[QUOTE=StillOne;79093]I just joined to thank you Mr. Umunhum for your thoughtfulness in posting your initial experiences and sharing your knowledge. I sincerely appreciate your discourse! You too Seeking, as your thread on Khechari has been very illuminating and led me to this post. Thank you!
I am currently working out of the Systematic Course by Satyananda. Hearing about your techniques and findings is confirming my direction and I really can’t thank you enough![/QUOTE]
Thank you for your post! I am very happy to read that someone finds value in my efforts. I too have purchased the Systematic Course but have not opened it yet. I am currently on my second reading of Kundalini Tantra and also reading Yogananda’s Second Coming of Christ. When I finish reading Kundalini Tantra I plan on reading the Systematic Course. I have deep admiration for both Lahiri, Yukteswar, Yogananda linage and Sivananda, Satyananda linage. I feel as if I have gotten inspiration, theory and an overview from Yogananda and the nuts and bolts of what to do from Satyananda.
After reading Autobiography of a Yogi, I tried to get lessons from SRF. They basically said that I had to meet with them in person and later they could mail the lessons to me. I do not receive mail in Panama and so this was not an option for me and inquired about email lessons. They said they are not set up to do this. I thought that this doesn’t seem right. As important as this is, how could they not have this set up? I later learned more about the secretive nature of SRF.
I was very interested in learning what a kriya breath was especially after reading that doing one properly was the equivalent of 1 year of normal spiritual evolution. I bought Norman Paulsen’s book Sacred Science for $100 on amazon just so I could learn what a Kriya breath was. After getting the book I did some internet searches on a few terms in the book and found Ennio’s site and books and immediately knew that this is what I’ve been searching for. I identified so much with his story because I experienced some of what he wrote in contacting SRF and couldn’t believe how they operated.
I was so excited to learn what a Kriya breath was and to start practicing them. I loaned the Sacred Science book to my yoga instructor after reading it. It is mainly a fluff book with instructions on how to do a Kriya breath that Babaji personally taught him. The SRF people say that he changed a few things and it is not a true Kriya breath, to which I thought poppycock! Why all the secrecy? After a week I kept badgering my yoga instructor to return my book because I just read it real quickly once and wanted to read it again. I think he loaned it out to someone else and loaned me Kundalini Tantra as kind of a “here read this until I can get your book back to you.”
The Kundalini Tantra is far more descriptive of how to open your chakras and had 20 different exercises that were called “Kriyas” and so I thought I have to read this book. And you know the rest of the story if you’ve read my posts. Both linages have so far been invaluable to me and I don’t like the idea of only receiving information from one source. Especially because you can’t actually meet the Guru. I believe Talabya Kriya is extremely important for the development of your tongue. Satyananda does not practice this. In reading the 108 advices of Lahiri, he wrote about the importance of Kechari enough times to make me think that this mudra is extremely important. Upon reading more about it from other sites, I thought this is the key to everything. Yet the current chapters of SRF don’t teach it? What is going on? In Norman Paulsen’s book he wrote that Yogananda would teach it to advanced students only. He being one of them.
I love the fact that Sivananda told Satyananda to give yoga to the world. No secrets, write about everything. And so to honor this great soul, here is 2 minutes of Satyananda chanting:
Umunhum, please do post more of your asana practice as it seems you have found considerable refinement there.
I am no expert and don’t know what role asana practice played in my awakening. I wrote down a spreadsheet while reading Kundalini Tantra which postures open up which chakras. I quickly noticed that my yoga instructor’s practice hits them all and has several variations of many of them. This weekend I will try to give a detailed explanation of his routine. Has anybody practice my salutation vinyasana?
Here are the asanas to open up the chakras according to Satyananda:
I was reading Kundalini Tantra (p. 183) by Satyananda last night and came upon this piece of information in case anyone cares: … the root or frenulum of the under surface of the tongue is gradually cut and the tongue is slowly elongated and inserted into the nasopharynx. It blocks off the passage as a cork seals a bottle. The whole practice is perfected over a two year period.
I had white skin that looked like the equivalent of a hymen under my tongue. There is no way I could’ve sealed off the back of my throat if I didn’t cut it away. Now the skin under my tongue is completely red except the calloused part that keeps coming in contact with my lower teeth from the hundreds of Talabya I do daily. I have stopped cutting for the time being because my frenulum doesn’t feel taut when I curl my tongue back and touch my uvala. In the last 3 days I have acquired this ability. If I think my frenulum is restricting my tongue, I will start cutting it again.
From page 223 of Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ:
Thought is human consciousness in vibration. Human consciousness is delimited God consciousness in vibration. In the process of thought man’s consciousness vibrates. One whose consciousness vibrates under the control of Maya, the cosmic hypnotist, remains fixated upon finitude. Through psychophysical techniques of yoga one can regain mastery of his mind, stilling the restless thought vibrations of human consciousness and entering the ecstasy of God-consciousness.*
I am an egg, a beginner on the Path. I have practiced SRF kriya for 15 years but have recently discovered the deeper and more powerful kriya taught by Lahiri. I am finding gratifying progress in the forest of the chakras, and in kechari.
In reading these posts, I am astounded by the complexity of concept and knowledge being described by some yogis who have made vast leaps of spiritual progress in a very short time of practice. They have my admiration. I would love to make such fast and profound progress. However, in these recent exchanges of posts, I feel like I am detecting a pissing contest, much reminescent of our old Nemesis EGO, which surely would not be acting with such power and prominance in ones of such spiritual attainment. I am not doubting their accounts of Experiences or their understanding of esoteric kriya techniques ( which I really do admire and even envy). I just wondered at the very plain displays of ego. But I don’t know. I am an egg…
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175] Thank you for your post! I am very happy to read that someone finds value in my efforts. I too have purchased the Systematic Course but have not opened it yet. I am currently on my second reading of Kundalini Tantra and also reading Yogananda’s Second Coming of Christ. When I finish reading Kundalini Tantra I plan on reading the Systematic Course. I have deep admiration for both Lahiri, Yukteswar, Yogananda linage and Sivananda, Satyananda linage. I feel as if I have gotten inspiration, theory and an overview from Yogananda and the nuts and bolts of what to do from Satyananda. [/QUOTE]
I think it’s more than just me that’s finding value in your contribution, Umunhum! This thread has had over 1200 hits!
Like you, I was drawn to deepen my research in yoga after reading the Autobiography of a Yogi.
I’m not sure if you actually need the Systematic Course at your level… However, it would be a nice cross reference for you since some things are described slightly differently from sources. I’d certainly encourage you to read later in that book on the kriyas that you’ve been doing. There may be pieces of wisdom there for you.
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175] After reading Autobiography of a Yogi, I tried to get lessons from SRF. They basically said that I had to meet with them in person and later they could mail the lessons to me. I do not receive mail in Panama and so this was not an option for me and inquired about email lessons. They said they are not set up to do this. I thought that this doesn’t seem right. As important as this is, how could they not have this set up? I later learned more about the secretive nature of SRF.
I was very interested in learning what a kriya breath was especially after reading that doing one properly was the equivalent of 1 year of normal spiritual evolution. I bought Norman Paulsen’s book Sacred Science for $100 on amazon just so I could learn what a Kriya breath was. After getting the book I did some internet searches on a few terms in the book and found Ennio’s site and books and immediately knew that this is what I’ve been searching for. I identified so much with his story because I experienced some of what he wrote in contacting SRF and couldn’t believe how they operated. [/QUOTE]
I too have read Ennio’s book and almost decided to abandon Satyananda but felt that I should complete Satyananda first. I think Ennio provides much insight and it’s certainly a great work. I have not read Paulsen.
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175] I was so excited to learn what a Kriya breath was and to start practicing them. I loaned the Sacred Science book to my yoga instructor after reading it. It is mainly a fluff book with instructions on how to do a Kriya breath that Babaji personally taught him. The SRF people say that he changed a few things and it is not a true Kriya breath, to which I thought poppycock! Why all the secrecy? After a week I kept badgering my yoga instructor to return my book because I just read it real quickly once and wanted to read it again. I think he loaned it out to someone else and loaned me Kundalini Tantra as kind of a ?here read this until I can get your book back to you.?
The Kundalini Tantra is far more descriptive of how to open your chakras and had 20 different exercises that were called ?Kriyas? and so I thought I have to read this book. And you know the rest of the story if you’ve read my posts. Both linages have so far been invaluable to me and I don’t like the idea of only receiving information from one source. Especially because you can’t actually meet the Guru. I believe Talabya Kriya is extremely important for the development of your tongue. Satyananda does not practice this. In reading the 108 advices of Lahiri, he wrote about the importance of Kechari enough times to make me think that this mudra is extremely important. Upon reading more about it from other sites, I thought this is the key to everything. Yet the current chapters of SRF don’t teach it? What is going on? In Norman Paulsen’s book he wrote that Yogananda would teach it to advanced students only. He being one of them. [/QUOTE]
Interesting observations. I didn’t consider Talabya Kriya until coming upon Seeking’s post in this forum which led me here. Now I clearly see it’s importance. It is interesting since in much of Satyanada’s kriya instruction that Kechari is mentioned that they wouldn’t explain more.
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175]I love the fact that Sivananda told Satyananda to give yoga to the world. No secrets, write about everything. And so to honor this great soul, here is 2 minutes of Satyananda chanting:
youtube.com/watch?v=7Je858eqwUw [/QUOTE]
Indeed! Brilliant! I think with people seeking out such wisdom and with the state of technology now, that having such profound knowledge at hand is very important… especially considering the state of the world.
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175]I am no expert and don’t know what role asana practice played in my awakening. I wrote down a spreadsheet while reading Kundalini Tantra which postures open up which chakras. I quickly noticed that my yoga instructor’s practice hits them all and has several variations of many of them. This weekend I will try to give a detailed explanation of his routine. Has anybody practice my salutation vinyasana?
Here are the asanas to open up the chakras according to Satyananda:
Notice that most of them are back bends? [/QUOTE]
I have done a similar vinyasa before. At the moment I’m having some shoulder difficulty, so I’m avoiding all downdog/updog sequences. I hope that I can resume this shortly but it has been pestering me for awhile. It’s interesting creating a warm up sequence that doesn’t use these postures!
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175] I had white skin that looked like the equivalent of a hymen under my tongue. There is no way I could’ve sealed off the back of my throat if I didn’t cut it away. Now the skin under my tongue is completely red except the calloused part that keeps coming in contact with my lower teeth from the hundreds of Talabya I do daily. I have stopped cutting for the time being because my frenulum doesn’t feel taut when I curl my tongue back and touch my uvala. In the last 3 days I have acquired this ability. If I think my frenulum is restricting my tongue, I will start cutting it again.[/QUOTE]
I’ve begun doing Talabya. At the moment I do not plan on cutting my tongue. However, after a few months if I don’t see much progress I may start.
[QUOTE=umunhum;79175] From page 223 of Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ:
Thought is human consciousness in vibration. Human consciousness is delimited God consciousness in vibration. In the process of thought man’s consciousness vibrates. One whose consciousness vibrates under the control of Maya, the cosmic hypnotist, remains fixated upon finitude. Through psychophysical techniques of yoga one can regain mastery of his mind, stilling the restless thought vibrations of human consciousness and entering the ecstasy of God-consciousness.*
*Be still, and know that I am God. [/QUOTE]
I’ve been interested in reading this book and most definitely will do so at some point.
[QUOTE=Dr Baba;79254]I am an egg, a beginner on the Path. I have practiced SRF kriya for 15 years but have recently discovered the deeper and more powerful kriya taught by Lahiri. I am finding gratifying progress in the forest of the chakras, and in kechari.
In reading these posts, I am astounded by the complexity of concept and knowledge being described by some yogis who have made vast leaps of spiritual progress in a very short time of practice. They have my admiration. I would love to make such fast and profound progress. However, in these recent exchanges of posts, I feel like I am detecting a pissing contest, much reminescent of our old Nemesis EGO, which surely would not be acting with such power and prominance in ones of such spiritual attainment. I am not doubting their accounts of Experiences or their understanding of esoteric kriya techniques ( which I really do admire and even envy). I just wondered at the very plain displays of ego. But I don’t know. I am an egg…[/QUOTE]
Your post epitomizes the importance of me to continue to post the way I do. In what pursuit can someone be practicing something for 15 years and still be a beginner?
Since Lahiri is your guru, spend the time to read his 108 pieces of advice:
Pay particular attention to his first piece of advice like I have done and meditate on it. It is my belief that Lahiri was incapable of presenting false information. And so knowing that and the importance of this subject matter, what would be your reaction to someone stating to you that you are presenting a wrong path? And keep in mind that I’m not posting information to impress anyone or win an argument. I post information in the hopes that it will help people advance on their spiritual path. And so I felt it was extremely important to let the reader know how much I disagreed with the wrong path comment.
Having the ability to go breathless anytime that I want to does not mean that I don’t have an ego. It just means that I have the ability to shut it down anytime that I want to. When I think about what I’m going to write, my life, or engage the mind at all, my ego is present. The difference is now I have a choice whether to engage it or not. It is not forcing thoughts into my consciousness unless I want it to.
The breathless state to me does not mean that breath is not coming in and out of my body. A very subtle amount is still going in and out of my nasal passage. It is not being pulled in or pushed out by my diaphragm. I don’t know what is drawing it in but if I close off my nasal passage with my fingers, my body will signal the need for breath and my diaphragm will kick in. There is no way I am getting anywhere near the amount of oxygen from the breathless state into my body than I get when my diaphragm is pumping. It is a trip to sit and watch your diaphragm and see and feel that it is not moving and having no urge or desire to move it for hours at a clip if I want to. If I suddenly have an urge to breathe, I normally can go into nasikagra mudra (nose tip gazing), and the urge subsides. This tells me that the yogis are right and that this mudra has the physiological effect of opening up the Muladhara and it starts pumping more prana up the sushumna.
I’m not sure if you actually need the Systematic Course at your level… However, it would be a nice cross reference for you since some things are described slightly differently from sources. I’d certainly encourage you to read later in that book on the kriyas that you’ve been doing. There may be pieces of wisdom there for you.
I’m not that advanced. I’m just a regular schmo that stumbled on to a technique that shut down my diaphragm. I still need to clear my nadis, sushumna, open up my chakras and raise my kundalini. I can tell you from experience that there is no comparison to meditating in the breathless state to meditating when breathing. One is an effortless endeavor and the other is pure torture just seeing how long you can stand it. (I’m overstating this a bit - I enjoyed my meditations sometimes) The only thing that stops me from meditating longer now is pain from my knees. And I love #25 of Lahiri’s pieces of advice. My yoga instructor told me about one of the Buddha meditations he did on one of his Vipassanas (10 day Buddha silent meditation course). He said in one of the meditations (one hour), he was instructed not to move at all regardless of what the body told him. Ignore all pain. Both Ennio and Lahiri say don’t do this. Lahiri pieces of advice #25:
If you feel pain [during the Kriya practice] in the body, then understand that the practice is not going well.
This and Ennio’s account of many yogis needing knee surgery makes me stop all practice if I feel pain. Sometimes when I sit and feel rooted, I feel as if I can sit and meditate for hours and there is nothing that I would rather do. It makes me wonder if I will be meditating for hours at a clip when I achieve kechari stage 2. I believe prior to going breathless that you should spend the bulk of your time on pranayama exercises and just a token amount of meditating. There is no sense in wasting your time fighting the mind, develop the skills necessary to shut it down. This means practicing Talabya Kriya, breath of fire, Mahamudra, Agnisar Kriya, and regular kriya breaths (some with kumbhakas with moo’s or similar techniques to take your mind off the pause). If you practice 20 minutes in the morning and night, I would dedicate 15 minutes of that to pranayama and 5 minutes to meditating in Siddahasana, Shambhavi and Kechari mudra using the mantra Aum (Om) or I am in your Ajna.
I too have read Ennio’s book and almost decided to abandon Satyananda but felt that I should complete Satyananda first. I think Ennio provides much insight and it’s certainly a great work. I have not read Paulsen.
When I first got Paulsen’s book I flipped right to the pages that describe what he called the ?Kriya Breath? taught to him by Babaji. Squeeze your anus three times, inhale a breath up your spine and imagine it changing colors as you go up to your Ajna, hold the breath at Ajna and squeeze your anus three more times, then exhale the breath back down the spine as it changes colors and exits your anus as red. I thought is this some sort of sick joke? Then I look at the book cover and it says it should cost like $21 not the $100 I paid for it. Two weeks later I was definitely feeling current going up and down my spine thinking there’s no doubt that there is something to this. And searching a few terms in the book led me to Ennio’s book so it was probably the best $100 I ever spent. I think other books I’ve read have a lot more content to them though.
Interesting observations. I didn’t consider Talabya Kriya until coming upon Seeking’s post in this forum which led me here. Now I clearly see it’s importance. It is interesting since in much of Satyanada’s kriya instruction that Kechari is mentioned that they wouldn’t explain more.
Talabya is critical for stretching out the tongue for kechari. Maha Mudra and breath of fire or Agnisar Kriya for strengthening the diaphragm. And regular Kriyas for getting the current flowing. This is what I focus on.
Indeed! Brilliant! I think with people seeking out such wisdom and with the state of technology now, that having such profound knowledge at hand is very important… [B]especially considering the state of the world[/B].
Watch 13:50 to 15:00 ? just 1 minute and 10 seconds:
WTF is going on?
I’ve begun doing Talabya. At the moment I do not plan on cutting my tongue. However, after a few months if I don’t see much progress I may start.
I said the same thing. I think I made it 2 weeks and started cutting but I literally was tongue tied. If you’ve got white skin under your tongue, I think it needs to go.
I’ve been interested in reading this book and most definitely will do so at some point. (Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ)
Couple things id like to add uma. First off I stayed up very late and read this entire thread, your brilliant. I could have read the dialogue between you and the other smart guy who was writing back to you all day. Both are you are people I wish I knew on a personal level. Have you ever read the up on taoist theory and the small and large heavenly cycle breathing techniques. It says that once you reach this breathless state which you have attained but through a different series of exercises, that the cells of the body have been transmuted through an alchemical process to where they are able to exist only on the energy which circulates throughout the universe, rather than on the grosser need to oxyygen which is presently felt. It’s at this point that the “normal” laws of time and space no longer bind the individual to this body or earth. Second off I hope I don’t offend but I feel people are throwing the term guru around loosely. This is from the book be here now by dr. richard alpert who transformed to hari dass baba. "[B]At certain stages in the spiritual journey, there is a quickening of the spirit which is brought about through the grace of the guru. When you are at one of the stages where you need this catalyst, it will be forthcoming. There is really nothing you can do about gurus. It doesn’t work that way. If you go looking for a guru and you are not ready to find one, you will not find what you are looking for. On the other hand when you are ready, the guru will be exactly where you are at the appropriate moment. All you can do it purify yourself of body and mind. Each stage of purification will make you sensitive to new levels of perception. Finally you arrive at a level where the guru is. Question: Does everyone have a guru? Answer: Yes, however, you may or may not meet your guru on the physical plane in this lifetime. It isn’t necessary. Since the relation between a guru and disciple is not on the physical plane, the guru can act upon you from within yourself. YOu may meet him thhrough dreams or visions or merely sense his presence. However, it is only after much purification that you will honor these meetings rather than rejecting them in favor of the more gross manifestations. There have been many saints who realized enlightenment without ever meeting their guru in a physical manifestation. [/B][B][/B]. So My point is not to offend that people are loosely using the term guru where the term teacher or guide should be used instead of guru.
Satyananda Saraswati is a good philosopher, just that… philosophy… hes from vedanta lineage, vedantis dont know nothing about yoga, cause yoga emerged into tantrik culture, so if you want the real pratical knowledge of yoga , search tantrik sadhaks if you want vedanta philosophy search vedantis, but if you mix them… oh no , you get big confusion and learns nothing…
[QUOTE=green3321;79668]Couple things I’d like to add uma. First off, I stayed up very late and read this entire thread, you’re brilliant. I could have read the dialogue between you and the other smart guy who was writing back to you all day. Both of you are people I wish I knew on a personal level.[/QUOTE]
Thank you for that! That is quite a complement!
Have you ever read the up on Taoist theory and the small and large heavenly cycle breathing techniques. It says that once you reach this breathless state which you have attained but through a different series of exercises, that the cells of the body have been transmuted through an alchemical process to where they are able to exist only on the energy which circulates throughout the universe, rather than on the grosser need to oxygen which is presently felt.
I have not read up on Taoist Theory. If you can recommend a good book, I would be interested in reading it. I don’t have a full understanding of what is happening in my body. I know that I am not getting anywhere near the oxygen into my body that I got before I started going breathless all the time. I definitely still need oxygen because anytime I tax my body with exercise, I immediately start breathing. I have read that you need oxygen to digest food and so that maybe why a small amount is being drawn in but I am speculating on this. I feel good, peaceful, and don’t think my intellectual capabilities are suffering. My concept of time definitely is. If someone asked my what I did last Tuesday, I wouldn’t have a clue. If I saw the new James Bond flick, I definitely would remember seeing it and the details, just not when I saw it.
It’s at this point that the “normal” laws of time and space no longer bind the individual to this body or earth.
I have not advanced to this stage yet. My meditations are very enjoyable but dominated by my senses. Sound is the most disturbing. Birds, the ocean waves, and the noise from construction workers building two houses right in front of me distract me. I love the ocean breeze but it is a distraction. I noticed that I am able to see prana everywhere now. It is very easy to see above the ocean in the sky. About 80% of the people I show can see it. It is easiest to see when the sky is mostly clear with scattered clouds. Look into the blue sky near a cloud for very small sparkles of light. Then follow one of the sparkles with your eyes. They dance around rapidly and disappear. You will quickly lose the sparkle that you are following as you notice it passes 20 more small sparkles of light that your eyes will start following instead. Then you notice that there are millions of sparkles (prana) all around you. I remember when my yoga instructor first showed them to me and I immediately saw them and remembered watching them as a small child.
Second off I hope I don’t offend but I feel people are throwing the term guru around loosely. This is from the book be here now by dr. richard alpert who transformed to hari dass baba. "At certain stages in the spiritual journey, there is a quickening of the spirit which is brought about through the grace of the guru. When you are at one of the stages where you need this catalyst, it will be forthcoming. There is really nothing you can do about gurus. It doesn’t work that way. If you go looking for a guru and you are not ready to find one, you will not find what you are looking for. On the other hand when you are ready, the guru will be exactly where you are at the appropriate moment. All you can do it purify yourself of body and mind. Each stage of purification will make you sensitive to new levels of perception. Finally you arrive at a level where the guru is. Question: Does everyone have a guru? Answer: Yes, however, you may or may not meet your guru on the physical plane in this lifetime. It isn’t necessary. Since the relation between a guru and disciple is not on the physical plane, the guru can act upon you from within yourself. You may meet him through dreams or visions or merely sense his presence. However, it is only after much purification that you will honor these meetings rather than rejecting them in favor of the more gross manifestations. There have been many saints who realized enlightenment without ever meeting their guru in a physical manifestation. . So My point is not to offend that people are loosely using the term guru where the term teacher or guide should be used instead of guru.
I really like the idea of a guru and wish that I had one (physical). That said I don’t know what I would do if my guru told me that what I’m practicing is too advanced for me and advocated hours of something I felt was mundane. The AYPsite.org says the guru is in you after each lesson. Strangely enough, I feel like I am being guided. I even feel like I’m being guided in what I post.
Satyananda Saraswati is a good philosopher, just that… philosophy… hes from vedanta lineage, vedantis dont know nothing about yoga,
I don’t believe this is an accurate statement.
if you want the real practical knowledge of yoga , search tantrik sadhaks if you want vedanta philosophy search vedantis, but if you mix them… oh no , you get big confusion and learns nothing…
If you can recommend a good book on vedanta philosophy or more importantly practices, I would be interested in reading about it. I believe all forms of yoga are complementary and all efforts to find God are rewarded. Obviously some practices are more powerful for some people than others. The trick is to find out what works for you. I believe all seekers experience a lull in their progress and think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. They then jump on a different practice possibly right before a major breakthrough. I believe this is why a guru or guidance is important. Unfortunately this has turned into SRF members not being allowed to talk about their practice or practice kechari which I don’t understand.
I have called several of Satyananda’s schools and believe that I will go to Colombia to study more of his techniques. I am waiting for the director to return on Nov 23rd to see if I can get some individualized lessons. The normal course is to spend the bulk of the first year practicing asanas which I believe I’m already proficient at.
HRM performs Trataka on the sun during the first hour after sunrise or the last hour before sunset. His pineal gland has been measured at 2 ? times the size of a normal person’s and it normally shrinks with age. Apparently he was busted eating food at an Indian restaurant which doesn’t help his credibility but doesn’t discount everything he says.
Yogananda also talks about the sun – taken from page 416 of Yogananda’s book The Second Coming of Christ:
The primary medicine of the future will be rays, the vibratory nature of which is more compatible with the molecular atomic nature of the human body. Healing rays can reach into the atomic disorder of cells in chronic diseases. There is also much healing energy in the sun’s rays, though the harmful effects of overexposure must be avoided.
My current focus is to attain Kechari stage 2 and do exercises to open up my Ajna. Performing Trataka on the sun is far more powerful than doing it on a candle. I have been practicing Trataka on the sun for 5 days now. The first day I did three sets of 20 seconds on my balcony. I then realized that I need to be barefoot on the earth (sand, dirt or rocks) for this to be effective. Also it seems to be hazy with low level clouds at night that prevent sun gazing so I have to wake up at 5:40 in the morning to catch the sunrise. I have been doing a quick Jala Neti before walking down to a local park and standing in the sand. I have been doing 3 sets of 1 minute the first few days. Today (day 5) I did 1 set of 2 minutes and 2 sets of 1 minute (I know I’m doing this more than what is initially recommended). This is a very powerful exercise! I will continue to do this for the next few months building up to 1 set of 3 – 6 minutes straight.
Afterwards I’ve been going to Park Omar, a local park with a 4 kilometer par course, and slowly jogging the 4 kilometers. I’ve been running in kechari with my mouth completely closed for the entire jog. I don’t know why I started doing this or what effect it is having on me but I like doing it. Also I’ve been putting a glass pitcher of distilled water (get off the fluoridated water people!) out on my balcony in the sun every morning and drinking it throughout the day. I have no idea of the benefits of this either – just following the advice of HRM.
From page 385 of Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ:
When through the help of wise men, souls are transferred from the brine of material desires to the sweet waters of Bliss, they bring rejoicing to the august Giver of Life. God loves to see His sons consciously seek Him, and He is extremely pleased when one influences others to come unto Him. When a reformed Spirit-bound soul inspires another spiritual fugitive to return to God, that service to a fellow being is considered the highest human duty.*
*”Whosoever shall impart to My devotees the supreme secret knowledge, with utmost devotion to Me, shall without doubt come unto Me. Not any among men performs more priceless service to Me than he; in all the world there shall be none dearer to Me” - (God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita – page 68 – also by Yogananda)
I will say it again – I cannot recommend Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ enough. That said, I don’t bother telling my experiences to people who are not interested. It is much more productive telling them to someone who is interested than trying to gain the interest of someone who is not. This reminds me of a sales slogan – it’s easier to find someone who will say yes than trying to convince someone who says no to say yes. I believe some people don’t walk the path because they believe some cherished thing they do is a sin and will have to give it up. I am not ready to give up all my sensual pleasures yet either but I know that the pleasure I receive from maya is nothing compared to what lays in store for me.
When Jesus said Repent, he didn’t mean stop doing what you are doing, you are guilty of sin. He meant seeking pleasure in transitory things (maya) ultimately leads to dissatisfaction. The only way to find true happiness is to form a relationship with the divine.
You are born to sin! Of course you are, your consciousness was placed in a nonfunctional body. Unfortunately most people don’t understand what sinning is. Sinning is perceiving the world with the limited 5 senses, the mind, ego and intellect. As long as you use the 5 senses to create the world you are experiencing, you are a sinner. When your Third eye is open, you will create an entirely different world. When Jesus looked upon the ocean through his opened Ajna, he saw vibrating energy. And since he himself was vibrating energy, he could walk upon it. When we look at the ocean, we see water and so the physical world our thoughts create would drown us if we attempted Jesus’ feat with our unopened third eye.
Lahiri also explains this in his 108 pieces of advice – number 93:
Nobody is a sinner; no one is holy either; if the mind is put into the Kutastha, then, there is no sin; otherwise, if the mind is outward, there is sin; in other words, when the mind is not in the Kutastha, it is in sin.
The various churches have contorted Jesus’ teachings to make you believe you are a sinner if you desire sex, money and other things. And these are sins but only because they are worldly desires. You are not of this world and so no worldly thing has anything to offer you. Believing the world has something to offer you is the sin – or missing the mark as Eckhart Tolle says. You are apart from the Divine when the mind is supplying the consciousness with demands and information. Liberation from the mind is the purpose for our life here. The mind is a desire creating factory and gives you one desire after another and says we will be happy when we achieve or acquire this or that. This is nonsense. The world is made up of nothing more than various electricities that are interpreted in the body. If you eat the right food, have sex with the right pretty girl, acquire enough gold or whatever else your mind desires; your mind gives you some temporary pleasure and then it wants something else. Once you shut down the mind, your true nature unfolds which is unconditional love, peace and bliss. The mind is a miser giving out very little pleasure compared to the Divine. The mind enslaves us. It makes us think that we are the body and that our happiness comes from outside of ourselves. This is the false duality. The kingdom of heaven is within. We are always only experiencing our self.
That said as David Hawkins says you have to love the mind. You wouldn’t be here today without it. We are on our 2,000,000th life according to some yogis I’ve read. We’ve got an entire history stored in our sushumna of various incarnations of various animals only having the desire to kill, eat, and fuck. Your mind is what is left of your evolution from an animal and you wouldn’t have made it to this stage of evolution without it. You can revisit these electrical experiences when you go deep into meditation according to some yogis. All your sensory perception first go through what the experts say is a reptilian brain that is only interested in survival and procreation. The reptilian brain only thinks of three things. Can I eat it? Will it eat me? (Is it dangerous?) Can I fuck it? Your lower chakras are the sex and stomach chakras. Your higher chakras are the heart, throat and third eye - love, wisdom and intelligence. This is Heaven or Hell. We are living in Hell as long as we identify with the mind and body and keep our energy in the lower chakras. The various churches would have you believe that if you don’t give them 10% of what you earn that you will be sent to the very place we are currently living in.
Your mind will die with the body one day, you will not. The characteristics of your next mind or ego you receive will be similar to the one you have now as your mind is a combination of your history of electrical experiences (your built up karma ) and the family and culture you are born into. The goal is to kill the mind and become just presence before the body dies and takes the mind with it. You are not your karma, you are presence not experiences. That is your true nature, the mind makes you think that you are experiences or your life situation. The reason spiritual growth is the most important thing you can pursue is because it is the only thing you will take with you into your next life. Your progress takes place in the astral body which you take with you into your next incarnation. Any achievement made in the physical world dies with the body.
I definitely turned my Kundalini on from doing Satyananda’s exercises. This is from the book Moola Banda – The Master Key Page 1 Paragraph 1:
In the Yogataravali Sutras it is said: Jalandhara bandha, uddiyana bandha and moola bandha are situated in the throat, abdomen and perineum respectively. If their duration can be increased then where is the fear of death? By the practice of these three bandhas the dormant kundalini awakens and enters into the sushumna. The breath becomes still (kumbhaka). With the performance of these three bandhas the exhalation and inhalation ceases to function. With this the senses become purified and kevala (enlightenment) takes place. I pray for that knowledge residing in kevala kumbhaka.
I was right about the breath being linked with the mind – from Ramana – Who Am I?:
Are there no other means for making the mind quiescent?
Other than inquiry, there are no adequate means. If through other means it is sought to control the mind, the mind will appear to be controlled, but will again go forth. Through the control of breath also, the mind will become quiescent; but it will be quiescent only so long as the breath remains controlled, and when the breath resumes the mind also will again start moving and will wander as impelled by residual impressions. The source is the same for both mind and breath. Thought, indeed, is the nature of the mind. The thought “I” is the first thought of the mind; and that is egoity. It is from that whence egoity originates that breath also originates. Therefore, when the mind becomes quiescent, the breath is controlled, and when the breath is controlled the mind becomes quiescent.
I was describing my experiences. Every time my breath would stop, my mind would stop. I haven’t transcended the senses. I made it to kechari stage 2 about the beginning of April. I didn’t cut my frenulum at all in the months of December, January and the first few weeks of February. Finally I realized that I wasn’t going to make it to stage 2 unless I started cutting again. This is from Kundalini Yoga by Sivananda:
The lower part of the front portion of the tongue, the frenum lingua, is cut to the extent of a hair’s breadth with a sharp knife once in a week. Afterwards powder of turmeric is dusted over it. This is continued for some months. This is Chhedan.
Afterwards the Yogic student applies butter to the tongue and lengthens it daily. He draws the tongue in such a way that it is similar to the process of milking the udder of a cow. This is Dohan.
When the tongue is sufficiently long (it should touch the tip of the nose) the student folds it, takes it back and closes the posterior portion of the nostrils. Now he sits and meditates. The breath stops completely.
Sivananda was a fully realized yogi, a medical doctor, the guru of my beloved Satyananda, and just like Lahiri, received personal Kriya Yoga lessons directly from Babaji. And so the debate to cut or not cut is over in my mind. I cut until I reached stage 2 and continue to cut today.
Stage 2 was awkward at first. My tongue kept popping out. I could only keep it in the pharynx for about 30 seconds. It took about 2 weeks before I could hold it for a minute. Doing pranayama it would always fall out whenever I would lockout into maha bandha. Finally I got tired of pussyfooting it around and just started shoving my tongue up there. This was about the first week of May. And now I realize it is liking breaking in a virgin. I did the worst possible thing you could do, soft and slow and just prolonged the discomfort. You just have to start pushing your tongue up as far as you can. When you get to the later stages the base of your tongue is going to be where the tip of it is now and so the pharynx is going to stretch out a lot further. Not only that but it took me about 6 weeks to find my clitoris. At first I would get a feeling like when you put your tongue on a 9 volt battery. Just a little tingle. I thought is that it? I guess it’s going to get progressively more sensitive. But my tongue would fall out after 20 seconds or so and that was it. Clunky is a good word for it that the AYPsite uses aptly. Then I read that you are suppose to push the pharynx forward and that exposes the secret spot.
It’s just like when your press your hand on a woman’s pubic bone pushing her skin up exposes her secret spot! And so rubbing your tongue back and forth at the top of your nasal septum creates a tingling feeling that sometimes feels buzzy and trippy. It draws your attention inward. I haven’t got my tongue across the whole thing yet so I don’t know if I’m experiencing everything there is yet. And I don’t think I am. One thing I found is that the reason your nasal passage gets blocked up is a flap of skin covers the top part of your passage. It is the trippiest thing. And the flap of skin switches with your nadis every 90 minutes to 2 hours. I can stick my tongue down the nasal passage way to feel which part of my brain is dominant right now by feeling which nostril has the flap covering it. They say you are suppose to meditate when the right brain is dominant or the left nostril is open. I can’t do internal nadi shodhana yet because I can’t reach the top of my nasal hole to block it with my tongue yet.
I’ve had several experiences when meditating where my back felt like the trunk of a tree. While rubbing the secret spot and sitting breathless in shambhavi mudra suddenly my back would raise up straightening out and then feel like it was made out of stone. I just started practicing an entire yoga asana session with my tongue rubbing my secret spot and try to spend several hours a day with my tongue resting there.
The next goal is to figure out how to shut off the senses so that I can get to the first level of Samadhi. I read that the weight of the tongue on the nasal pharynx pulls on part of the brain and pinches off the circuit where the nerve signals travel from the sensory organs to the mind to decipher what is going on. I also read that you have to push on this circuit with the tongue and that cuts off the sensory perception signals from reaching the mind. The latter sounds more realistic but I don’t know where to push or if my tongue is long enough. I need to get more diligent about tongue stretching exercises. I don’t know if I milk correctly. How many times or how long should I milk my tongue?
With my kundalini on and my Muladhara open the next chakra I need to focus on is Svadhishthana. Satyananda’s Tantra book has basically only two exercises for the sex chakra - ashwini and vajroli mudras. So I put this song on and just have a ball fooling around with ashwini and vajroli mudras:
No instruction needed, just go with whatever rhythm you like. The asanas to open the sex chakra are cobra, triangle, twists, locust, bow, and camel.
Next is the Manipura Chakra and I’ve read that mastering nauli is the key opening that. And after that Shakti Chalana is the method to pull the kundalini up the sushumna:
Notice how she locks out her stomach in uddiyana bandha.
Once the kundalini makes it to the Anahata it rarely descends. Of course I’m just spouting out book knowledge. Even though I don’t know what I’m doing, I still feel like I’m being guided. I gave up on my sun gazing. I did it for 5 months and got up to 30 minutes but then the sun shifted and I could no longer watch it come out of the ocean from my balcony. I bought a earthing mat so that I would be grounded. Now I have to drive 30 minutes from my house and on days when there are clouds it is a real bummer. And you never know if there are going to be clouds until the sun is just about to rise. In returning home I would hit the morning commute and the traffic was terrible. When the sunrise shifts back to where I can watch it from my balcony, I will practice trataka on it again.
I called several of Satyananda’s schools. The school in Colombia is ran by a swami named Maria who studied with Satyananda. She said she basically teaches the book Asanas Pranayamas Mudra Bandha. She said I was doing things way too advanced and I should just do some basic postures with bastrika, breath of fire, nadi shodhana for my pranayama. I told her that was impossible at this point. I have been practicing a very advanced form of Sivananda asanas for many years now and I want to continue my pranayama. I then called an Australian Ashram and talked to a swami there that had been there for 12 years and she didn’t know what Kriya 6 and Kriya 7 from Satyananda were. These kriyas are in many of Satyananda’s books. She suggested I call India and go there.
I looked into going to India but they just started the 12 month annual english course. Then I found out that The Systematic Course on Yoga and Kriya was written by Swami Nishchalananda out of England. Granted he borrowed heavily from Satyananda’s Kundalini Tantra and was his disciple for 12 years. So I looked into going to England to study at his ashram but they just started a 18 month course. And so I resolved to study and do my own thing for awhile. When the student is ready the teacher will appear type of thing.
I knew that I wasn’t the only schmo ever to combine Kriya 6 and Kriya 7 together and so when I found this I freaked and immediately adopted it as my Sadhana. Of course I had to tweak it here and there:
First I do 11 rounds of nadi shodhana, anoloma veloma or alternate nostril breathing which ever you call it. The first 4 rounds I do maha bandha and while holding the exhale do 20 bastrika stomach pumps and then while holding the inhale jalahandra dynamic chin pumps with 5 circles. The next 4 rounds exhale the same, inhale chaturtha pranayama (which is just going through your chakras breaking the tissue paper that I mentally create for each chakra on the way down and then back up). Then the last three rounds just like the first four – exhale into maha bandha then do 20 bastrika stomach pumps and inhale into dynamic jalahandra with 5 circles of the head.
I then do 100 Breath of Fire with the last one exhaling right into Kriya 7
I then do 12 rounds of exhaling into Kriya 7 and inhaling into Kriya 6. This is the Sham – Kech – Moo to Nas - Udd – Moo I wrote about months ago. I do 8 cycles of chakra rotation before inhaling or exhaling.
I then exhale into maha bandha and perform 20 bastrika stomach pumps with the breath outside then inhale into Kriya 10 for two rounds, back to maha bandha on the exhale and some bastrikas. Then the next two rounds I do Kriya 11 theses are in Kundalini Tantra and also listed on Manoj’s video. I do a total of 12 Shamukhi mudra breaths doing these alternating kriyas – 6 of each. For Kriya 10 I like to rest my tongue on my septum and squeeze off 20 moos feeling the current go up. For Kriya 11 I’m not big on the green snake. I just do 3 – 4 circles touching my chakras down awarohan and then up the arohan.
14 internal Om’s – mouth is closed, kechari sealed off throat, humm Om on the exhale and imagine the breath is exhaling out of my Anahata Chakra.
The lords prayer, 5 Jesus prayer, salutations to Yogananda, Yukteshwar, Lahiri, Babaji, Ennio, and Norm Paulsen, salutations to Satyananda, Sivananda, Babaji, My Yoga teacher, Manoj, and Nithyananda, Salutations to my mother, father, brother, sister, relatives, friends, lovers, teachers, fellow students, all the people of the world, Repeat all the salutations
Kriya 6 and 7 can be found on manoj’s site or doing a search for Kundalini Tantra pdf on any search engine - Satyananda puts it out for free.
A question posed to me was how do you feel the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chakra?
It is easy to feel the 2nd chakra. You just squeeze the muscle you use to cut off your urine. You should be separating your orgasms from ejaculation. This is another way to build chakra awareness there. As I stated in an earlier post, Yogananda says that sex holds back most men from spiritual growth. Do not let the creative power of the universe needlessly escape out of your body. Don’t spill your seed! This energy is reabsorbed into the body, combines with prana and clears out your sushumna. I have read that it takes the body 2 weeks to a month to replenish the sperm lost in one ejaculation. Do an internet search on Brahmacharya and Sivananda if you want to know how important this is. Sivananda is a bit too hardcore with Brahmacharya for me, I like Satyananda’s approach better. Have all the sex you want but you must learn to separate your orgasms from ejaculation. When I first started practicing this I felt a soreness in my penis. This went away after a week or two. I think it was from using muscles that I never used before. The teachings of Babaji Mantra linked above is a great exercise to build awareness. Listen to that and practice Vajroli Mudra.
The 3rd chakra is also easy to feel. You should be practicing Maha Bandha every sadhana. Maha Bandha consists of Jalahandra Bandha, Uddiyana Bandha and Mula Bandha. Uddiyana Bandha should build chakra awareness in your stomach. If it doesn’t (and I don’t know how that is possible) then you should practice bastrika with the air exhaled. This will make your stomach sore for a few days when you first do it. I do 20 pumps 34 times (22 in exercise 1 and 12 in exercise 4) in my morning sadhana for a total of 680 bastrika pumps every morning. My stomach has ripples all the way through it. I still haven’t mastered nauli. That is something that I want to learn this year.
Maha bandha, sitting and Siddhasana, and kechari with the throat sealed off is one way to turn on your kundalini. So Maha bandha is extremely important. While sitting in Siddhasana I turn my hands so my thumbs are on the outside of my thighs and my fingers are on the inside and straighten out my arms using them as a brace to squeeze everything I can out of my diaphragm when I go into Uddiyana. First you exhale everything you’ve got in your lungs then you pull your stomach in then up. You should feel a locking out of your stomach. note This is extremely important – you should feel a locking out of your stomach and then do some bastrikas to really build awareness. On the inhale I will open up my arms laying my arms back on my legs with the palms facing upwards. Hopefully you understand what I’m doing with this description. You can Inhale and exhale in and out of Maha bandha doing a quick 5 reps and then do 5 slow ones holding the breath as long as you can. Point being practice Maha bandha as much as you can. I do my morning sadhana the same every morning and just play around with various exercises at night.
The 4th Chakra is a bit harder. I always think of a lover and kind of push my chest out. When I first started listening to Eckhart Tolle and my first reading of the Bhagavad Gita made my chest swell and feel so good and that it built a lot of awareness there for me. One of my favorite things to do is Meditate in the breathless state and do Cartartha Pranayama up and down my chakras. I like listening to this Mantra:
Om Na Ma Ha Shi Va up the chakras with Va in Ajna and then the air rushes out the crown and start back at Muladhara with Om. When I first started doing this I couldn’t keep up with the mantra until instead of going up with the syllables, I would go in and out. So you start with the air going in with your anus with Om, your out with your sex with Na, your in with your stomach with Ma, your out with your chest with Ha, your in with you tongue with Shi and out with you Ajna with Va and then slip out your crown. Hopefully you understand what I mean. The in out in out in out of doing this almost makes you think of your kundalini as a snake. Hmmm, where have we heard that metaphor before?
Another question was how long and what did I practice before my awakening. I practice a fairly advanced form of Sivananda Yoga 3 times a week and light floor exercise the other days for about 5 years and only practiced various pranayama exercises for about 7 weeks before my kundalini turned on. The only pranayama I practiced before the 7 week stint was 2 rounds of Breath of fire about 150 exhales per round before yoga and I would always sit with my breath held after a round waiting for my body to tell me it is time to breathe again. As I think Avatar stated, breath of fire decarbonizes the blood and so you shouldn’t have to breathe for about a minute or so after a round. Another aspect that I think contributed to my awakening was I felt very grateful during that time period. I remember also reading Norm Paulsen’s book and him saying you must demand from the divine that you want to know who and what you are. That you want a relationship with the divine. You have a right to know the truth about yourself and your creator. No more games – I will make the effort but I want to know the truth about what I am.
I got my current reading list from David Hawkins.
I listen to his videos on youtube and had to buy A Course in Miracles on his recommendation. I am currently on day 33 in the book.
I highly recommend listening to videos on youtube by David Hawkins. His video on stress, aging, the ego and many others are all priceless. Here’s one on sex:
Currently I’m reading Play of Consciousness by Muktananda. You pick up tips from reading books of masters. I learned that you must surrender to the fact that your body is not yours and it is necessary to sit in full lotus for 3 hours to purify all 2 million of your nadis, among many other things so far from this one. I still have problems with my knees but sit every morning in Siddhasana for 90 minutes of pranayama.
I highly recommend doing some of this guy’s Yoga Nidras:
My favorite ones are Yoga Nidra 1 and Yoga Nidra Om This puts you in a very relaxed state of mind. Once you start habitually going into these relaxed states they are easier to return to in meditation.
Thank you for answering my questions. I see you were a devoted yoga practitioner before you got Satyananda’s book Kundalini Tantra. I’m starting from scratch but reading your story, spiritual growth sound reachable following a couple of Satyananda’s books. I know a guru is always required, but when there’s none around, should we just lay down and die? I Don’t think so.
Lahiri agrees with you:
#106. Do not be idle. Practice Kriya. Do not wait for advice to practice Kriya. #107. Exhaust your breath in practicing Kriya. Eventually breath will be Sthira, Tranquil.
There are so many gems in Lahiri’s 108 pieces of advice. I’ve read that it takes thousands of lifetimes to achieve enlightenment. And the thoughts that follow that for me say I’m not good enough. I’m a heathen. I’m a sinner. There is no way that I can make it then. But that’s just nonsense from the mind. An Eckhart Tolle quote that haunts me is “Most Buddhists believe enlightenment is only for the Buddha. Yet Buddha said it is a rare gift to be born a human, a rarer gift still to hear of enlightenment, and an even rarer gift to try to achieve it. Jesus said the servant shall equal the master. This is our destiny. We will all achieve it! So why not this lifetime? And what do we have to lose? Our states of bliss are only going to increase in intensity as we travel down the path.
I tried to read the book The Inner Life by Charles Leadbeater a few years ago and it just didn’t take with me. I would read several pages and then think back what did I just read and couldn’t come up with anything. So I stopped reading it because I didn’t think I was ready for it. In it someone posed the question to a master, can somebody be left behind without a teacher? And the answer was that it is impossible and he showed the person his view of the world and how it was made up of vibrating energies. And so when someone attains a certain level of spiritual achievement, they start vibrating at a different level and it is immediately picked up on and a teacher is sent.
I really like David Hawkins discourse on the value of the guru. He says that when you place your aura within the aura of the guru, your aura starts to take on your guru’s aura characteristics. Satyananda said that when he met Sivananda, his mind went completely blank. He couldn’t think around him. Is this why everyone wants to meditate at the feet of their guru? I love this song:
Satyananda version – I love Satyananda – Give yoga to the world Sivananda told him:
The description of your sadhana is quite impressive, and your total dedication and will power is amazing and admirable, definitely you must be a Himalayan yogi reborn in the West. How long does it take for you to complete it? How many times do you do it a day?
Some days when I finish I think that’s it. That’s all I’m going to do. I don’t do enough! - That said. Try it! Your body can adapt to almost any exercise. You quickly develop a rhythm from what was once challenging. I love experimenting with the various things you can do with the breathing exercises, mudras, and bandhas. I do the same sadhana every morning. I wake up at 4:30 – hit the yoga ball around 5 and siddhasana around 5:15 to 6:30 of pranayama. Then in the afternoon or night play around whenever, no set time. Normally a few breathing exercises, kriyas, and sit in breathlessness for awhile. Pranayama brings me bliss!
Sivananda was a fully realized yogi, a medical doctor, the guru of my beloved Satyananda, and just like Lahiri, received personal Kriya Yoga lessons directly from Babaji…
I once read someone commenting in a forum that there must had been any connection between Satyananda and Babaji, but I’ve never read Sivananda or Satyananda mentioning Yogananda’s Babaji. Is there a place where I can read more about this alleged meeting?
I listen to so much stuff and have read quite a few books now by the Bihar School that I don’t know for sure. I think I heard this from several places one was a youtube video of a satsang. One of Satyananda’s disciples was talking about how Satyananda was taught Kriya by Sivananda and how Sivananda acquired the knowledge. I don’t know the name of the girl (disciple), but she is in quite a few videos and pictures with Satyananda and spent most of her life with him. The other a story about Sivananda and how he was a doctor in Malaysia. He got a calling and traveled around India, ended up traveling around the Himalayas and met Babaji.
It shouldn’t be a surprise though. In Autobiography of a Yogi, Yogananda wrote about how Yukteshwar met Babaji when he was sitting with several other Yogis. Norm Paulsen wrote that Babaji met with him. Babaji’s a gregarious type of guy. Satyananda got most of his Kriyas from Sivananda but a few from reading Vedic Scriptures.
The book Taming the Kundalini is an amazing book that is the private letters and conversations that Satyananda had with one of his disciples. After reading the book there was no doubt in my mind that Satyananda was fully realized at 38 years of age. He talks in the book about how he is going to take his disciple through the highest stages of samadhi.
I want to get to the first stage of samadhi. I’ve read that you push on something with your tongue and it compresses part of the brain blocking the nerve signals from getting through. This gets you past the subtle body into the void between the unmanifested and the manifested. I have a friend who actually believes everything I say and is now practicing too. He recently made kechari stage 2 as well and says that we might have to push on a bone at the back of the upper throat area and the other side of the bone might compress the signals. He said he gets tingly feelings when he pushes on the bone in the back part of his throat. I’ve spent all my time playing around with my secret spot in the front and so need to explore a bit more.
I wonder if the purpose of the head circles and movements are to cause the tongue to put pressure in certain areas inside the nasal cavity? Lahiri would do a similar exercise like the dynamic Jalahandra chin pump called Omkar Kriya by Ennio. He would strike the heart chakra jerking his head down several times. I wonder what is going on with his kechari during this exercise?
I noticed that my frenulum was hard a few days ago. It is like it is scabbed up from the inside. And I don’t think this was caused from cuts with a razor. I started thinking about what could be causing this and the thought occurred to me that the electricity flowing through my tongue burnt it. I just started being able to hold kechari 2 for hours and in my pranayama session in the morning the last week or so. The skin that makes up the frenulum can’t take the voltage? Seeking talked about how his frenulum disappeared into his tongue. I think the same thing is happening to me. My tongue goes straight up now and this just started happening. Before I was curling it back. Looking at it in the mirror, I’ve gotten over 90% of what I’m going to get by cutting the frenulum. I think the rest of the length I’m going to need is going to have to come from stretching exercises because my tongue is simply not long enough. I think my Vishuddha is now open.
I’ve been playing around with kechari 2 while having sex. There is some sort of connection between the top of your nasal septum and your sex. When I go past the point of no return, if I push on my nasal septum, the energy is transferred there. It is as though the orgasm is taking place there not at my sex. I just started doing this so I really don’t know what I’m doing yet but there is definitely a connection going on here. I would really like to know how we are wired.
One thing that occurred to me was that the reason that I’m not completely breathless (My diaphragm is not moving but a subtle amount of air is moving in and out my nose) is not because I need anything from the outside, but because my body is not purified yet, I’m still producing carbon dioxide from the inside. I was relaxing in the bath tub and I slipped underwater for about a minute with my fingers plugging my nose. I started to feel the urge to breathe but when I came out of the water I just lowered my fingers away from my nose and stayed breathless. The thought struck me that the urge to breathe comes from the need to expel the carbon dioxide my body is still making. As the air in my lungs fills up with carbon dioxide it exceeds the level of CO2 outside my body thus starting a vacuum, as nature always seeks equilibrium.
As long as you eat, your body is going to produce carbon and this necessitates the action of the breath to get rid of it. This is another reason why the Amrit you get from kechari stage 4 is so important. It allows you the ability to go without food, eliminating the production of carbon from the body. This is why Jesus and others fasted for 40 days – they could then take their meditations a lot deeper by shutting down their digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems. You can’t do this if you have food in your body.
Thanks for the lead on where I can seek advice. I will email him. I just have to figure out a socially acceptable way of asking, Hey, do you happen to know which part of the brain I’m suppose to push on with my tongue to stop the signals from my senses from reaching my mind? Life is crazy. And if it is out of reach, which is entirely possible, I need tongue stretching lessons. If I’m going to get the Amrit, I have to figure out what I’m doing.
You explained that you feel you are being guided but, haven’t you ever had an experience (in meditation, in a dream, a vision, etc) where a master of yoga is teaching you a technique or correcting any of your practices?
No, but I seem to always be doing what is important for me to do. For example the first two kriyas I practiced out of Kundalini Tantra was Kriya 6 the gagging kriya and then kriya 7. Later I read Satyananda write this:
Maha mudra and maha bheda mudra are the actual life of kriya yoga. If for any reason you are not able to practise the whole sequence of kriyas, continue maha mudra and maha bheda mudra without fail.
I had an experience last Wednesday that I believe was meant to guide me. About an hour after my morning session of Pranayama, I was just sitting on my computer chair relaxing slightly tapping on my secret spot with my tongue and focusing on my Ajna. My tongue recoiled a bit and almost felt small and flaccid. Then it felt like a phallus as it became engorged with blood. My tongue became erect and started expanding up towards my Ajna. The muscles in my tongue were reaching out trying to get higher and higher. I felt my tongue being pulled from the base tearing it off the floor that had held it for so long. I suddenly could feel everything in my nasal cavity. But my tongue did not want to play around with what was inside my nasal cavity, it wanted to go straight up to the top. The muscles pulsed as they tried to get the tongue higher and higher. I had no idea the muscles in my tongue could move in that manner. My tongue felt rigid or rock hard like the erections that I use to get as a teenager. There was definitely some pain involved too as the tongue kept trying to expand but it didn’t bother me at all. It felt good.
My tongue does not want to play around with my nasal clitorus or the G-spot like tissue that is on the other side, it want’s to get to the Amrit. I can now close off my nostrils as I can reach the top of the nasal cavities. My seal is not that strong though and so I really can’t perform internal nadi shodhana yet. I feel the tubes that go to the ears – they are really trippy. I had no idea we had tissue like that of a G-Spot on the opposite side of where the secret spot is. The skin that is above the top of the nasal septum (secret spot) is where all the electricity comes from. You can feel a good percentage of it just touching the top to the nasal septum itself. The Amrit must drip through this skin that feels like a G-spot. It feels rough like it has a whole bunch of little bumps. When I rub my secret spot a few times and then flip over to the g-spot and rub it a few times it gives me a dizzy blissful feeling.
I can just reach the top of the nasal cavity. I’m going to have to stretch out my tongue to push through the ceiling. Several things could have triggered this experience. The day before I pulled or milked my tongue about 50 times. That seems to be about my limit because I started feeling stress and then started gagging. I have been practicing kechari as far as I can and doing backbends stretching my head back as far as I can focusing on my tongue. Cobra is a great posture for this. Stick your head back as far as you can and then roll your head to the right and look at your left foot and then the other side. The head rolls from Dynamic Jalahandara chin pumps are also good to stretch out the tongue (AYP site).
As I stated before, it was just in the last few weeks that I’ve been able to hold kechari 2 for hours at a clip and so the electricity is just starting to flow. I have a rough like scab on my frenulum and I believe that it is caused by my uvula that is conducting electricity to my frenulum burning it. I am done with cutting underneath my tongue now because my frenulum is now gone. When I lift my tongue it goes straight up and if I look for what is preventing me from reaching higher, it is the whole tongue. I would have to slice the entire thing now to get higher so from now on everything is going to depend on stretching. For some reason I thought that I was going to be able to feel bones in my nasal cavity because I read that you push open the tenth gate to let the nectar flow. But because everything is encapsulated with skin, we are going to be pushing on bones through the skin.
I read this from one of Lahiri’s letters over the weekend:
There is a sticking point above the holes in the nose and it will go beyond that - gradually. Don’t force it; if you do so you can injure yourself. It will do its work after higher Kriya.
There are just too many coincidences or divine synchronicities happening to me and sometimes it really freaks me out. I wish I knew my role in all of this. I am elated with the thought that my Vishuddha is now open! That means two of the six chakras that I need to open are now active. (Muladhara and Vishuddha) I’m fairly confident that my kundalini is having fun in my Svadhishthana right now. There is definitely a connection between your secret spot and your sex.
I remember reading about how some people make a frenulum cutter out of a plastic tube. I am thinking about making a tongue stretcher out of one. Just find a tube that snugly fits the tongue, cork the other side of it. Then you can create a vacuum by sticking your tongue into it and sucking air out. That way you can use it to pull the tongue whatever direction you like with as much force as you want by changing the vacuum with your tongue and pulling the tube with your hand. Hopefully my description is presented well enough to understand what I’m talking about. I haven’t done it yet so hopefully it works too.
The thought came to me that the Amrit doesn’t start dripping until you start practicing hours of meditation. I am sorely lacking in this department. Every morning I sit for about 90 minutes of pranayama with a bathroom break when needed. At night I might sit for 20 to 30 minutes of meditation. On a rare occasion I might make it an hour. Mainly just some pranayama and relaxing is what I do at night, no set schedule. I want to keep it fun so I don’t feeling obligated and start resenting anything and so far I’ve been very successful at that.
That said I want to start meditating for an hour every night and occasionally make it to 3 hours. I just started to be able to sit in Siddhasana correctly. The top leg crunches my sex somewhat but I can finally do it. I remember when I first got my heel into my perineum how uncomfortable that was and then a few days later I couldn’t even feel it any more and kept checking to see if I was pressing into it. The rooted stable feeling that sitting in Siddhasana correctly brings should definitely help my meditations. With one heel in the perineum, another resting on the sex, tongue resting on the secret spot and eyes focused on shambhavi, 4 of the 6 chakras are being stimulated.
I started doing AYPsite’s Navi exercise, which is just going into maha bandha and then slightly pulling in your stomach a little more about 20 to 30 times. This will make your stomach sore when you first do it just like agnisar kriya. I keep calling agnisar bastrika. Bastrika is when you breath in and out whereas in agnisar you retain the breath outside the body and pump your stomach. Both agnisar and the AYP’s navi exercise are good for mind muscle connection for the stomach to then be able to do nauli. Slowly but surely I am developing that connection. My focus now is Svadhishthana exercises, learning to do nauli and stretching my tongue.
The white line in the middle of my tongue where my frenulum used to be is actually hard like a scab. It is slowly dissolving. It is my belief that the tissue in the frenulum that anchors the tongue to the bottom of your mouth is made out of a different type of tissue. The electricity that the uvala conducts burns this up when you connect your tongue to the secret spot. As you can see from the second picture, I would have to cut my whole tongue now to reach further up into my nasal cavity.
You can also see that I grinded down my front teeth. I believe this was a reaction to being tongue tied. When I slept at night, my tongue wanted to go into kechari and couldn’t?? Dentists would tell me I grinded because of stress but I never felt stressed. I’ve always been a kind of happy go lucky type of person.
Buy a protection for upper teeth that you put on before sleeping. Even if you dont feel stressed this can happen, if i take pills that are analgesic like natural herbs i get teeth clenching or what it is called. Even from magnesium.
and if your mind is thinking of kechari while sleeping it is a kind of stress ,maybe a mild one dont you agree? It is like mind got stucked and repeating it selfs. Which can be stress some.
[QUOTE=fakeyogis;83368]Buy a protection for upper teeth that you put on before sleeping. Even if you dont feel stressed this can happen, if i take pills that are analgesic like natural herbs i get teeth clenching or what it is called. Even from magnesium.
and if your mind is thinking of kechari while sleeping it is a kind of stress ,maybe a mild one dont you agree? It is like mind got stucked and repeating it selfs. Which can be stress some.[/QUOTE]
I have owned several night guards. The last one I had made was for the bottom teeth because it is a lot less intrusive to wear it on the bottom than the top – easier to go to sleep. That said I believe that the only reason I was grinding my teeth was because I was tongue tied. My frenulum reached almost to the tip of my tongue. As soon as I started cutting and freed my tongue somewhat, I quit grinding.
I guess you could call it stress but at the time I was grinding, I didn’t even know about kechari. The subconscious part of my mind wanted my tongue to be free to roam around at night.
I noticed that when I lock out my throat in Jalahandra bandha for Maha bandha now that my tongue rests on the G-spot like tissue. I don’t think the Amrit is flowing anywhere near what it will be when I increase my meditation time or for that matter when I pierce the “tenth gate.” That said my appetite has decreased and I believe I am starting to get at least a little of the Amrit. I eat some fruit and coconut in the morning and sometimes go the rest of the day without eating. At night I start thinking, I haven’t eaten all day and I’m not hungry. I have already lost over 10 pounds since I went vegetarian after my kundalini turned on (10 months ago). I ate eggs for about the first 4 months but then gave them up as well. I have been thin my whole life and so losing weight has never been a goal of mine. In fact a good part of my youth was spent in the weight room trying to build muscle. It is somewhat disconcerting to watch my arms and chest become smaller.
I was reflecting on my path and feeling grateful at the guidance I have received. The statement “ask and you shall receive” popped into my head. I thought that is a bible quote, I wonder what context that is placed in? From Matthew 7:7 to 7:14, 21, and 24:
7 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
9 “Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?”
10 “Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? “
11 “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him!”
12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
13 [B]“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:" [/B]
14 [B] "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”[/B]
21 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
24 “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:”
This is from The Sermon on the Mount. I read this and thought he is talking about Kechari in referring to the gates. And I pulled out Yogananda’s The Second Coming of Christ page 550:
Jesus enjoined on man unswerving adherence to the path of virtue and morality, a course that all human beings must follow to evolve spiritually. He reiterated this in these verses, but also addressed his close disciples in a veiled metaphor. The “straight gate” and “narrow way” refer also to the gateway in the subtle astral center at the base of the spine, which opens into the astral spine’s narrow, extremely fine pathway through which the life and consciousness ascend to the higher cerebrospinal centers of spiritual perception – the sole path to realization of God and union with Him.
Even Yogananda talks cryptically about kechari but that is expected. Yogananada is great for theory but leaves out the specific details about what should be practiced. This is reserved for advanced disciples only. This is one of the reasons I love Satyananda so much. He details what should be practiced. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus is talking about Kechari in this passage. The straight gate is the nasal pharynx and the narrow passage is the top of your nasal passage. And again this is what Lahiri wrote to one of his disciples:
There is a sticking point above the holes in the nose and it will go beyond that - gradually. Don’t force it; if you do so you can injure yourself. It will do its work after higher Kriya.
I missed it at first but even Lahiri is talking about going into the nose with your tongue and then opening up the “Tenth Gate” that is above the holes.
This drawing confirms everything for me:
This picture shows the G-Spot tissue that I’m talking about. They call it the pharyngeal tonsil:
(edit) I have to post the link because when I post the picture it reformats the page cutting off much of the text:
You have to squeeze your tongue into the “tenth gate”. This enables you to do three things. The first is you tip over the “fountain of youth”, King Arthur’s Holy Grail, or the Well of Nectar. This cup like structure stores the milk and honey (white and yellow) liquid that drips down from the pineal and pituitary glands. The Amrit, Ayahuasca, DMT or nectar will then spill over and flow through the bumpy like G-spot tissue at the top of the nasal pharynx. The tongue also will press into circuits that carry the nerve signals that send the sensory perceptions to the lower brain. With the breath and the senses shut down, the power supply to the mind is gone and so it shuts down, this will enable the yogi to experience the first stage of samadhi according to Yogananda. And lastly I’ve read that the bundle of nerves that the tongue presses into are right below the pituitary gland. So pushing into these nerves will stimulate the bottom part of the pituitary gland causing it to vibrate, thus stimulating the pineal gland causing both glands to produce more Amrit.
The tongue must remain in this position to keep the mind shut down. If any electrical signals (sensory perceptions) get through, they will carry electricity to the mind powering it back up. The effect of the Amrit probably overcomes this but I’m speculating. One of my earlier posts has the quote of Yogananda stating God Consciousness = Human Consciousness + Thought. If you are going to meditate for long periods of time, fasting is a necessity. As long as there is food in the body, the breath is needed for the oxygen to digest the food and the heart has to pump the blood to circulate the oxygen. The Amrit obviates the body’s need for food and the body lives off of prana – Your spiritual birth takes place.
What this drawing does not show is that you have to turn your tongue sideways and put it into one of the (narrow) nasal passageways to reach up to the tenth gate. My tongue is far too short and fat to be able to do this very far. I need to both lengthen and make the tip of my tongue much thinner. I have read that the tongue must be able to touch the tip of the nose to be able to complete Kechari. I am about a half an inch away from bliss then and so stretching the tongue must become a focal point in my sadhana.
When you slide your tongue into one of your nasal passages, the back part of the tongue starts rubbing up against the strange ear tube (that feels like an small ear itself) and it actually helps guide your tongue in. The strange shaped ear tunnel helps turn your tongue sideways. And you have to stick your tongue in sideways because “[B]narrow is the way[/B].” according to Jesus. When I stick my tongue into one of the nasal passages, I get a tingly feeling that makes me recoil and want to sneeze. The bundle of nerves above the nasal openings are indeed very sensitive and carry a lot of current. The electricity I feel in the morning when I first go into kechari, shocks me from the electricity my uvala is conducting to the bottom of my tongue. The electricity I feel from touching those bundle of nerves is too much for me to take for very long, 10 - 30 seconds is about it.
I suddenly realize the importance of sutra neti and now must learn how to practice this:
And lastly I’ve read that the bundle of nerves that the tongue presses into are right below the pituitary gland. So pushing into these nerves will stimulate the bottom part of the pituitary gland causing it to vibrate, thus stimulating the pineal gland causing both glands to produce more Amrit.
Correction
This should read pushing on the cup like structure that encases the pituitary gland will stimulate the pituitary gland causing it to vibrate, thus stimulating the pineal gland causing both glands to produce more Amrit.
Have you licked your brain today? You got to lick your brain. You’ve got to lick your brain! ;o)
Another day of practice and more knowledge was imparted onto me. Not only do the strange ear like appendages that surround the ear holes in the nasal cavity guide the tongue into the nasal openings, they also lock the tongue down on the sides to the G-Spot like tissue when you lock out Jalahandra bandha when doing Maha bandha. The front of the tongue is firmly held on the G-Spot tissue and when you pull the tongue away it creates a suction like effect that will then pull the amrit from the skin it has dripped down into.
For those that have not made kechari stage 2 yet, the nasal openings are about 2/3 of the way up the nasal cavity. Right next to them are the ear holes with the ear like appendages surrounding them. Above them on the other side of the cavity is the G-Spot tissue. So when you bring your chin all the way down to the top of your breast bone locking it out, stimulating your thyroid gland and holding the prana in the sushumna, your tongue slides up the back of the nasal cavity to the very top and the sides of the tongue are held to the top of the nasal cavity by the back of the ear flaps.
So the front of the ear flaps guide the tongue into the nasal holes when you want to shut down the mind and meditate (commune with the Divine) and the back of the ear flaps hold the tongue down allowing a suction like effect to occur pulling the Amrit out of the G-Spot tissue. This is absolutely amazing! As my understanding grows, Darwin’s theory of evolution is becoming more and more ridiculous.
Yesterday after my sadhana I went for a walk at Park Omar. I started listening intently to the various birds singing. I felt so in engrossed with the present moment that I started to become in tune with the place where time actually begins. It was a very peaceful feeling and I don’t know how to express it in words. I have only felt this way a few times. I then decided to go behind a few bushes to meditate to see if I could take it deeper. Unfortunately a few mosquitoes showed up and I quickly realized this was not a good place for meditation.
[QUOTE=umunhum;78339]I turned on my Kundalini and achieved the breathless state playing around with the Kriyas in Satyananda Saraswati’s book Kundalini Tantra. I then could achieve the breathless state (My diaphram no longer moves unless I want it to), by doing just about any form of Pranayama. About a month after my Kundalini awakening I started to notice that I no longer control the breathless state, it just happens all the time now.
The question I have is am I suppose to continue doing spinal breathing (Kriyas) or the 20 Kriyas in Satyananda’s book or should I just spend the time meditating in the breathless state?[/QUOTE]
How long was your “breathless state” ?
Calling it such is quite misleading to people, especially posting such things where beginners and naive people are looking for guidance.
So I ask again, how long was your breathless state?
Why do you call it such?
[QUOTE=omshanti;83398]How long was your “breathless state” ?
Calling it such is quite misleading to people, especially posting such things where beginners and naive people are looking for guidance.
So I ask again, how long was your breathless state?
Why do you call it such?[/QUOTE]
Wow! At least Suhas was somewhat cryptic when he was basically calling me a liar. You don’t beat around the bush. You just come right out and say it.
When I first turned on my kundalini, I went breathless for about 25 minutes. After 3 weeks, I reached the state of Kevala Kumbhaka. I am breathless all the time now. My diaphragm never moves unless I want it to. If I do anything strenuous, my diaphragm will start up (exercise, sex, walking up stairs).
The main purpose of the breath is not to get oxygen in the body, it is to get the carbon dioxide out of the body. And you instinctively know this. When you go under water and swim for a minute and then come up for air. You don’t inhale first. The first thing you do is exhale. The build up of carbon dioxide in the body is the main driver of the breath. Sivananda wrote that we breathe to get fresh prana from the air into the lungs. With the prana, comes oxygen and the body makes carbon dioxide out of it. The less oxygen coming into the body, the less carbon dioxide made. I would be willing to bet that you were in the breathless state when you were a fetus floating around in your mother’s tummy. How did you do that? After you activate your kundalini, the lungs are supplied with prana from your muladhara and breathing stops. It took my body 3 weeks to accomplish this.
I call my breathless state the breathless state because I don’t breathe when I’m in it. You might want to read all my posts. It will most likely help you avoid putting your foot further into your mouth.
Something is going on with the concavity of my nasal pharynx area when I go into Maha Bandha now and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The arch of it gets a lot more narrow. This allows the inner ear lobes to grab the tongue and hold it to the roof. I feel a suction going on. I think I’m trapping my tongue into the upper chamber and sucking air out when I go into Maha Bandha. This is allowing me to stretch out my tongue. I am flipping out right now because I just discovered this as I’m writing. You create a vacuum and then your stretch your tongue out licking for the Amrit! You do this exercise to make your tongue longer and thinner at the tip and the vacuum also helps pull more Amrit out of the G-Spot tissue. I’m telling you something is guiding me!
This is why Lahiri would have his disciples doing 500 kriyas and then 50 Maha Mudras. The Kriyas would build up ojas making more Amrit. And then the Maha Mudras would allow the disciple to lick the Amrit stretching the tongue. This is why Satyananda says always practice Kriya 6 and 7 (Maha Mudra and Maha Bheda Mudra). Kriya 6 builds up some kind of magnetic attraction between the Ajna and the Vishuddha also stimulating the Muladhara and then Kriya 7 you go into an advanced form of Maha Bandha licking for the Amrit.
I guess I don’t have to buy that tube and cork it now! Too funny!
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
When I first turned on my kundalini, I went breathless for about 25 minutes. After 3 weeks, I reached the state of Kevala Kumbhaka. I am breathless all the time now. My diaphragm never moves unless I want it to. If I do anything strenuous, my diaphragm will start up (exercise, sex, walking up stairs).[/QUOTE]
The kundalini is active for many people since birth [in this life]. Only a relatively small amount of people are completely “switched-off” when it comes to the awareness of the chakras and the energy within the spine, nadis, head, etc.
When he says he “turned on” his kundalini, it [already] suggests a misunderstood or otherwise altered path. Similar to the “Chaos Magicians” and “Theosophists” - theirs is a system based on similar notions, but make no mistake it is NOT kriya yoga.
For all intents and purposes, he is rushing the process and skipping over so many important things. This is actually misleading for anyone not familiar with kriya yoga. If one didn’t know any better, they would taken his word for it - which would be a comedy of errors indeed. Even if he avoided taking responsibility for this, that does not change the fact that it would negatively influence an unknown amount of potential-yogis.
He is haphazardly flipping through the experiences and using a botched version of he assumes the techniques of kriya are/were.
There is more to it than this. Maybe one should shut his mouth and find someone who actually has been through the FULL process. OR, stay quiet for many years until he has figured it all out and purified the mind of the disgusting impulses of individuality.
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
The main purpose of the breath is not to get oxygen in the body, it is to get the carbon dioxide out of the body. And you instinctively know this. When you go under water and swim for a minute and then come up for air. You don’t inhale first. The first thing you do is exhale. The build up of carbon dioxide in the body is the main driver of the breath. Sivananda wrote that we breathe to get fresh prana from the air into the lungs. With the prana, comes oxygen and the body makes carbon dioxide out of it. The less oxygen coming into the body, the less carbon dioxide made. I would be willing to bet that you were in the breathless state when you were a fetus floating around in your mother’s tummy. How did you do that? After you activate your kundalini, the lungs are supplied with prana from your muladhara and breathing stops. It took my body 3 weeks to accomplish this. [/QUOTE]
Totally unnecessary/unwarranted diatribe about his perceptions. Kindly pick up after your dog, I mean ego, sir. Save it for your diary.
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
I call my breathless state the breathless state because I don’t breathe when I’m in it. You might want to read all my posts. It will most likely help you avoid putting your foot further into your mouth.[/QUOTE]
The various states of kumbhak are not only commonplace to advanced yogis, they are a prerequisite to the higher kriyas and states of awareness.
This is why some people need a guru, because the ego gets so excited that you have experienced something outside of the paradigm of normal mundane life, that the student might start experimenting with lateral experiences.
It is only one of hundreds of stepping stones on the path. In other words, he is becoming infatuated with his own gross experience. It is like being proud of one’s own feces, taking it in a bucket from door-to-door around the village because you think everyone will feel the same way you do about it. Foolishness.
This is one of the many good reasons there are rules, regulations, and vows in yoga.
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
Something is going on with the concavity of my nasal pharynx area when I go into Maha Bandha now and I can’t quite put my finger on it. The arch of it gets a lot more narrow. This allows the inner ear lobes to grab the tongue and hold it to the roof. I feel a suction going on. I think I’m trapping my tongue into the upper chamber and sucking air out when I go into Maha Bandha. This is allowing me to stretch out my tongue. I am flipping out right now because I just discovered this as I’m writing. You create a vacuum and then your stretch your tongue out licking for the Amrit! You do this exercise to make your tongue longer and thinner at the tip and the vacuum also helps pull more Amrit out of the G-Spot tissue. I’m telling you something is guiding me!
[/QUOTE]
Here is an example of the type of delusions and assumptions that can happen to a person experimenting with techniques. It’s actually embarrassing but he does not yet realize this.
Again, this would be better suited for a diary.
Was the tongue is in Khechari when you perform mahabandha?
[Rhetorical question, please do not respond]
Between Talabya kriya and khechari there is no reason to “trap the tongue” and “stretch the tongue” using mahabandha.
You say something is guiding you, then follow it.
It is the ego that takes this “guidance” and relates it to Sri Lahiri Mahashaya and Kriya yoga.
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
This is why Lahiri would have his disciples doing 500 kriyas and then 50 Maha Mudras. The Kriyas would build up ojas making more Amrit. And then the Maha Mudras would allow the disciple to lick the Amrit stretching the tongue. This is why Satyananda says always practice Kriya 6 and 7 (Maha Mudra and Maha Bheda Mudra). Kriya 6 builds up some kind of magnetic attraction between the Ajna and the Vishuddha also stimulating the Muladhara and then Kriya 7 you go into an advanced form of Maha Bandha licking for the Amrit.
[/QUOTE]
Here again we see this person make a series of radical assumptions.
His asserstions are ignorant, and do not represent Lahiri Mahashaya or Satyananda
[QUOTE=umunhum;83400]
I guess I don’t have to buy that tube and cork it now! Too funny![/QUOTE]
Seriously just what is your problem anyway? You never have anything constructive to add to any conversation and only spew poison.
There is nothing wrong with this person sharing the experiences they have had and desire to communicate them so others may understand what it is they may encounter.
The reason people get experiences is because of the nervous system undergoing changes due to sadhana. These changes can be profound and quite unsettling at times or even amazing what is so wrong discussing these things in open forum?
Did I miss the sign somewhere that said shush don’t talk about these things were too advanced for this if someone talks about experiences we should gang up on them and tell them they have an ego problem. This will be sure to let everyone know we do not and are the advanced lofty ones whose words are to be respected.
Would it not be better just to realize that the reason they’re sharing is because their ego is becoming more transparent and it is reporting what it is witnessing?
Come now who among you of the ego accusers can communicate on this forum right this instant without the use of your ego as a tool of communication?
Would it not be better just to explain to the person posting that what they are experiencing is there nervous system changing due to the practice of sadhana?
If a person’s understanding is mistaken why do you not help them and point them in the right direction?
The original poster on this thread has never claimed to practice the Kriya of Lahiri Mahasaya. If you read carefully you would see that he has stated that his practice comes from an entirely different school of practice.
The word Kriya does not always mean Kriya Yoga.
And in the interest of helping those who wish to learn real Kriya then I suggest you get ready for one hell of a ride. Many of the characters you’re going to meet are just as unfriendly as this Om Shanti is.
The sad thing is they cannot even see how poorly they behave because they themselves are trapped within their own nervous system that they are constantly changing through the practice of sadhana. Pity these mean hearted people for they know not what they are doing and are still working out the kinks in the ol ego even as I and everyone else are doing.
Now instead of just venting my spleen on this board I’m actually going to add something that should help those who truly want to learn Kriya yoga, understand a bit of what it consists of and a short explanation of why it may never be really found and practiced.
For the rest of us who are not worthy, fortunate or it is just plain not within our providence to have a true Kriya Master in the flesh to guide us we can only do our best to practice sadhana and perhaps one day we will be blessed.
The Kriya Yoga of Lahiri Mahasaya first initiation consists of the following practices if what you were being taught does not contain these practices then you can be sure it is one of the modified Kriya trends.
Guru Pranam
Talavia or Talabya Kriya aids in developing full Kechari In original Kriya lineage cutting the tongue is forbidden.
Mahamudra
Navi Kriya
Om Japa in the centers
Kriya Pranayama only up to the Medulla
Yoni Mudra
Until Kechari Mudra is accomplished higher Kriyas are not given because until then there is no Sushumna as it is broken into 2 pieces Kechari Mudra creates the whole sushumna linking the space between Vishudda and Ajna.
At the point of achieving Full Kechari Mudra this is when the Prana goes inwards into sushumna the still breath is obtained and true Pranayama occurs, Pranayama by breathing is not true pranayama. This is when true Kriya begins.
Furthermore to attempt to practice the higher Kriyas is unwise as they are not operative and it is said can even be dangerous.
Another point once Kechari is achieved the sequence kriyas are performed in changes as well.
Another point instruction manuals on Kriya are worthless they are just Kriya knowledge. Most of them are wrong anyway. True Kriya requires a master to aid you in the journey.
Aid you in the journey? Just what does this mean? from reading all accounts of Lahiri Baba he dispensed Kriya as a good and knowing doctor dispensed medicine.
The methods stayed largely the same but the repetitions practiced the actual Kriyas taught and the sequence were not the same for all disciples. For example some were told not to hold the breath while bending foreward in Maha Mudra. But this was for Lahiri Baba to decide and prescribe not the student and certainly not for the many would be teachers and manual writers.
Where can one find a true master? Gee good question lets ask Om Shanti this person seems to know all the fake ones.
Now as far as Sadhana is concerned Kriya is not the only Path to liberation but it is one of the better ones.
Everyone is free to do what they choose if somebody reads the OP’s experiences and tries to do the same that is their business it is a little thing called free will and at least he is wiling to explain and share not just condemn.
[QUOTE=omshanti;83409][B]The kundalini is active for many people since birth[/B] [in this life]. Only a relatively small amount of people are completely “switched-off” when it comes to the awareness of the chakras and the energy within the spine, nadis, head, etc.
When he says he “turned on” his kundalini, it [already] suggests a misunderstood or otherwise altered path. Similar to the “Chaos Magicians” and “Theosophists” - theirs is a system based on similar notions, but make no mistake it is NOT kriya yoga. [/QUOTE]
If you want to get technical, [B]we are all born with active kundalini[/B] otherwise we would be still born. The turning on your kundalini nomenclature refers to opening up the muladhara chakra and sending the energy up the sushumna as opposed to it going up the ida or pingala.
[QUOTE=omshanti;83409]For all intents and purposes, he is rushing the process and skipping over so many important things. This is actually misleading for anyone not familiar with kriya yoga. If one didn’t know any better, they would taken his word for it - which would be a comedy of errors indeed. Even if he avoided taking responsibility for this, that does not change the fact that it would negatively influence an unknown amount of potential-yogis.[/QUOTE]
Good thing that there are experts around like you to save them!
[QUOTE=omshanti;83409]He is haphazardly flipping through the experiences and using a botched version of he assumes the techniques of kriya are/were.
There is more to it than this. Maybe one should shut his mouth and find someone who actually has been through the FULL process. OR, stay quiet for many years until he has figured it all out and purified the mind of the disgusting impulses of individuality.[/QUOTE]
I practice a variety of techniques and I enjoy them all. I believe as Siddhanath says that all forms of yoga are complementary. The tone of the way you write is not very becoming.
[QUOTE=omshanti;83409]Totally unnecessary/unwarranted diatribe about his perceptions. Kindly pick up after your dog, I mean ego, sir. Save it for your diary.
The various states of kumbhak are not only commonplace to advanced yogis, they are a prerequisite to the higher kriyas and states of awareness.
This is why some people need a guru, because the ego gets so excited that you have experienced something outside of the paradigm of normal mundane life, that the student might start experimenting with lateral experiences.
It is only one of hundreds of stepping stones on the path. In other words, he is becoming infatuated with his own gross experience. It is like being proud of one’s own feces, taking it in a bucket from door-to-door around the village because you think everyone will feel the same way you do about it. Foolishness. This is one of the many good reasons there are rules, regulations, and vows in yoga.[/QUOTE]
I think I got you to admit that I have achieved Kevala Kumbhaka but then you start comparing it to defecating? I’m at a loss for words with this comparison. And I don’t recall taking any vows before I started reading Satyananda’s book Kundalini Tantra.
Here is what Sivananda has to say about Kevala Kumbhaka:
The student can retain his breath as long as he likes through this Kumbhaka. He attains the state of Raja Yoga. Through Kevala Kumbhaka, the knowledge of Kundalini arises. Kundalini is aroused and the Sushumna is free from all sorts of obstacles. He attains perfection in Hatha Yoga. You can practise this Kumbhaka three times a day. He who knows Pranayama and Kevala is the real Yogi. What can he not accomplish in the three worlds, who has acquired success in this Kevala Kumbhaka? Glory, glory to such exalted souls. This Kumbhaka cures all diseases and promotes longevity.
Here is what Lahiri has to say about Kevala Kumbhaka:
Increase Kevala, Recaka, Puraka this will impart siddhi (fulfillment) – gradual increase entails Samadhi, having Recaka, Puraka it is like a closed well, effect the flow of Pranavayu, the mind becomes static – if further augmentation occurs disease is eliminated, – sins are burnt, purification ensues – knowledge dawns, ignorance or darkness is destroyed.
[QUOTE=omshanti;83409]Here is an example of the type of delusions and assumptions that can happen to a person experimenting with techniques. It’s actually embarrassing but he does not yet realize this. Again, this would be better suited for a diary.
Was the tongue is in Khechari when you perform mahabandha?
[Rhetorical question, please do not respond]
Between Talabya kriya and khechari [B]there is no reason to “trap the tongue” and “stretch the tongue” using mahabandha[/B].
You say something is guiding you, then follow it. It is the ego that takes this “guidance” and relates it to Sri Lahiri Mahashaya and Kriya yoga.[/QUOTE]
I disagree and don’t believe any further discussion with you is going to be productive. Good luck on your path.
