Self-improvement & Vedanta (1)

There are a lot of books available on the subject of self-improvement in the market. People keep reading this sort of books, but they don’t change even a bit. And even if they change at all, they change not for better, they become worse. Why is it so? First of all, we should know why we want to change. Listen, I’m saying “change”, not “improve”. Because there is a big difference between these two words.

When you want to change, you start copying someone. Change is the form of imitation. You have an image of a person in your mind, who you think is better then you. It can be a person, you saw in past or it can be an imaginary person. Reality and imagination don’t matter. I’ll tell you later how that image is outcome of something, you would have seen in the past. So, you imitate others in the process of changing. You try to destroy your original being, your self persona elopes; in the process of changing. There’s a story in Panchtantra. A donkey put on the skin of a lion and entered in a farm of sugarcane. All guards run away with fear. It ate enough and then started making its hee-haw sound. Soon everybody knew that it was a donkey, not a lion. And they beat the donkey. I’m not saying here that you are donkeys, though many of you believe it as your wives call them with this name. I just want you to understand that you cannot change, though you can improve.

Whereas the word “improve” has a different meaning altogether. It doesn’t cause you to imitate. Improve simply means - greater self-manifestation. When you try to improve, you discover new dimensions of your existence deeper in yourself. Remember, there is no comparison with anyone else in the process of improvement. Do you understand it? Initially your parents, guru and teachers etc. want you to change. And as you grow up, your minds get steeped in this thought that you should change in order to be better. And it is the problem. You want to change, not to improve.

All these authors, their books and courses teach you how to change. They don’t show you how to improve, because they don’t know anything about it themselves. We will discuss about it more deeply in our next meeting.

Sahaja yoga

Heard a lot many things about Sahaja Yoga so dicided to have a look at it -

Check it out

Kundalini Yoga: What Chakra to Meditate Upon?

Meditation is the most useful tool to elevate Kundalini. But many people are not able to decide - on what Chakra they should meditate or they keep changing the Chakras without awakening any of these Chakras. Actually, this is not a problem at all if you practice the yoga in an organized manner. You won't face this problem if you will practice the previous step of meditation i.e. Pranayam thoroughly.

Proper practice of Pranayam will lead you to know your actual position – on what Chakra your consciousness is lying. Your Prana (Vital force) can be at Muladhar or at Vishuddhi or at Ajna Chakra – it is depended on your past spiritual practice – if you did a lot of Sadhna (spiritual practice) in your previous birth, your consciousness will be situated at higher Chakras and vise versa.

After some practice of Pranayam, you will start to feel the sensation of Prana at some particular point in your body. This is the right point or Chakra where you should concentrate your mind on. It's the point where your Prana is lying at. In reality, Pranayam and meditation are not completely distinct spiritual exercises. Meditation is the advanced stage of Pranayam. Even after a little practice of Pranayam, you'll be able to see the light of a particular color at a Chakra. These colors have different meanings which will be discussed later.

It is not necessary to try to fix your mind on a Chakra forcefully. You won't be able to concentrate if you'll try to do so; because you don't know the right Chakra for you. It'll be a wasteful effort. You will enter in meditative state automatically while doing Pranayam. Pranayam is as important as meditation, so don't neglect Pranayam if you want to progress in Kundalini Yoga.

Aastha TV Channel in Canada

TORONTO, May 25 /CNW/ - Asian Television Network International Limited (ATN) (TSX-SAT) is delighted to announce that it plans to launch as part of ATN's bouquet of South Asian Television Channels across Canada, one of India's specialty television channels and most prominent spiritual network, AASTHA TV.

Check Press Release Here.

Meditation Decoded

Mind is the cause of freedom and bondage of human. Human is not an idol of blood, bones and flesh. It has the mind too, and mind is made up of many positive and negative thoughts. From very childhood, whatever impacted the mind is somewhere in any corner of it. These subtle thoughts have their effect on the body through mind. Every thought generates very strong effect on body e.g. when someone is scared, his body starts trembling and turns pale.

What is the nature of mind? It does not like to focus on one subject. When it is tried to be concentrated on one point, it begins to run and tends to go on different subjects. The mind sticks in useless thoughts. It doesn't want to live in the present. The mind like to live either in future or in past. Though the velocity of the light can be measured, but it's impossible to measure the speed of the mind. It is because mind runs with infinite speed. Mind always wants to be in motion. There are newer and newer desires in the mind every second. The fulfillment of one desire gives rise to thousand new desires.

There are a lot of methods to control the mind e.g. prayer, worship, devotion and knowledge etc. But out of all these, meditation is the best. It is very difficult to control the mind and it's nearly impossible to control it at once. This task needs patience and persistence. Easily it can be controlled with practice, renunciation and determination. Meditation is the key of the mind. It purifies the mind and destroys the thought-waves. Meditation is the process of transformation of the conscious and subconscious mind into super-conscious mind. It stops the wastage of mental powers and makes the stressed mind calm. Meditation gives the rest to the mind and generates tremendous amount of energy within body and mind.

What is Tantra

Tantra is an ancient science. Like Yoga, Jnana and Bhakti etc., it's also a way to realize the self. Though, nowadays it has become the synonym of sacred sex. Market reinterpreted it so that it can be sold.

The result or end of Tantra and yoga are practically same. But means are slightly different. The aim of Tantra is the union of Shiva and Shakti elements. Here Shiva and Shakti signify Kundalini and Sahasrar Chakra (near Cerebral Plexus). The one who by intense Tantric practice elevates Kundalini from Muladhara (near Pelvie Plexus) to the Sahasrar chakra becomes free from all bondages. Tantrics say that the person, who wants to follow the path of Tantra, should be able to control his senses. Tantra is the path for the people of strong will. In Tantra practice, it needs immense will power to elevate and hold the Kundalini at different levels of Sushumna. People with weak will power couldn't hold it and Kundalini goes down very rapidly; which, later, destroys mental calmness and creates strong sex urge.

'Vamachara' is the part of Tantra, about which people are most confused. It has nothing to do with sensual pleasures. According to it, women should be worshiped as Shakti or divine mother. A true Tantric should see every woman as divine mother. Tantra is same like fire; you can either cook food or burn yourself, in the same way you can get Moksha (freedom) by right understanding and practice of Tantra and you can destroy yourself by wrong practice of it.

New Opening, New Resolutions

As you can see, I got shifted to one permanent domain i.e. www.astrocamp.com. Now onwards, I am planning to write regularly on various religion and spirituality topics. Here are the few topics that I am planning to cover -

• Vedanta especially Advaita Vedanta


• Vedas and Upnishadas


• Ramdev & Pranayama


• Bhagavad Gita


• Vivekananda


• Hinduism


• Jyotish and other Vedic sciences

Please feel free to write to me about your interest, likings and dislikings.

New Location

Hello Friends,

This blog has got it new home at http://www.astrocamp.com/vedanta/. Please update your link. Now onwards, I am planning to be more regular on variuos Vedas and Vedanta related topics.

Pratik

Advaita Vedanta

You must have heard the old Vedic example of snake-rope illusion. Due to fog or any other reason, a person sees the rope as a snake. But when he comes to know that there's no snake, he sees the rope only. Here rope and snake signifies cosmic power and cosmic illusion. When one sees the snake, there's no rope at all and vice versa.

Though we've got complete freedom on all the levels, but we're still far away from the truth unless we don't see the truth as it exists i.e. we must posses the vision, which can penetrate the 'maya' and can see the rope (Brahman) in its true form. We can create the world around us good or bad. Still it's not the truth. This world is neither good nor bad. We must be able to see it as Brahma itself.

Good or bad, virtue or sin; all these exist within the boundaries of this world. Our aim should be to go beyond the world, because the effect of illusion cannot be destroyed by another illusion. It's the truth only, which can destroy illusion. And Vedanta shows us the paths to go beyond it.

Vedanta

Some people say that freedom of the will does not exist. We are like the toys in the hand of the cosmic power, and this power is being manifested through all of our actions. We are only free on the level of Atman (soul), but when we talk about body and 'mana', we are bound.

According to me, it is the wrong interpretation of Vedic theory of freedom, though it is partially true too. As Atman, we are always free. But in this world we are bound due to 'maya' (cosmic illusion). And the cause of 'maya' is our own mind, which interprets omnipresent cosmic power as the world. In the other words, world does not exist at all. It is the imagination of our 'mana' (mind). Therefore; if I'm in a certain state (good or bad), spiritually or physically or in any way; it is because my mind wants to be in that state.

For example, if there's a tree stump in front of a person in a foggy evening and he is waiting for his girlfriend, he sees that stump as his girlfriend. On the other hand, if there is a kid in the same circumstances, he sees a ghost. What makes the difference? It is the mind. The stump is 'Brahman' and fog is cosmic illusion. And the projection of our thoughts on the cosmic power is this world. It's up to us what we want to see it as. We can change the entire world by changing our 'mana'. Only this theory can explain the miracles of Christ and other great saints. Thus, we are free not only on the level of the Atman, but also on the level of this world.