Attaining Yoga or Union:

Attaining Yoga or Union:
Yoga or "Union" is attained by first training, balancing, and purifying each of the aspects of our being individually, and then systematically receding attention inward through those levels, expanding so as to experience the state of Union, Yoga, Samadhi, or Turiya.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

AUDIO (32 min): Million Dollar Question of Nondual Yoga Vedanta Meditation

THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION OF
NONDUAL YOGA VEDANTA MEDITATION
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

AUDIO RECORDING (PODCAST)
(32:12 minutes)
http://www.swamij.com/podcast/080525-swami-j-million.mp3

This recording is on the million dollar question of nondual (advaita) Yoga Vedanta meditation and contemplation. It is from a presentation at the Center for Nondualism on May 25, 2008. Just like the game show, this million dollar question is the last of all the questions of nondual Yoga Vedanta. It is also the hardest question, and the most important question. It is the question that supersedes all other questions. It is the question that is neither in the past, nor in the future. It is the question by which all other questions pale by comparison.

Center for Nondualism:
http://www.centerfornondualism.org/

Swami Jnaneshvara:
http://www.swamij.com/swamijnaneshvara.htm

AUDIO (28 min): Sermon on the Mount, Nondualism, and Yoga Vedanta

SERMON ON THE MOUNT, NONDUALISM, AND YOGA VEDANTA
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

AUDIO RECORDING (PODCAST)
(32:12 minutes)
http://www.swamij.com/podcast/080511-swami-j-sermount.mp3

This presentation is on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7 of the Christian bible), Nondualism, and Yoga Vedanta Meditation and Contemplation. It is from a presentation at the Center for Nondualism on May 11, 2008. Here are a few concepts from the presentation: There are over 39,000 Christian denominations. Each denomination has its own interpretations of the teachings. If they have the right to interpret those teachings the way they want, then I claim the same
right of interpretation that they have claimed. I claim the right to say that Jesus teaches that there is one absolute nondual (advaita) reality, that we all are of that one, that he teaches from that perspective, and that he teaches people to seek enlightenment in their own direct experience. I claim the right to believe that Jesus was a supreme Yoga teacher.

Center for Nondualism:
http://www.centerfornondualism.org/

Swami Jnaneshvara:
http://www.swamij.com/swamijnaneshvara.htm

VIDEO: (3 min) The dance of Yoga on the lips of mind and Mt. Kailash

NEW VIDEO (3:04 Minutes)
(revision of a previous video)

THE DANCE OF YOGA ON THE LIPS OF THE MIND AND MT. KAILASH
By Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

VIDEO at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8kujQL3xTg

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
Ah, sweet Yoga.
The word dances on the lips of the mind.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
The wave that is one with the ocean of bliss.
The union of the illusory "I" with the "I" of all,
That was never divided in the first place.
Ah, sweet Yoga.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
How the word flows through the field of mind.
The consciousness as Purusha,
Never one with, but playing with all the layers of being,
All the levels of the finest soil of matter called Prakriti.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
One without a second.
One absolute reality,
With the appearance of soul called Atman,
As a breeze thinking itself separate from the wind
Of the absolute called Brahman.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
Ah, so utterly, incomparably, sweet is the word.
The essence that is both the beauty
And creative force called feminine or Shakti,
And her companion of masculine, Shiva.
The two which are one in Yoga.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
Ah, passionate, loving, driving, quieting,
Exasperating,
Fulfilling, emptying, full filling Yoga.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
Ah, so sweet;
No sweeter word to ring in the canyons of mind,
Than the word of Yoga,
That arises from, and returns to the silence.

Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga
You and I are one.
Only one. Only Yoga.
Yoga, Yoga, Yoga, Yoga

More of my videos at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/yogabindu

My website:
http://www.swamij.com/

VIDEO (9 min): Invoking the Infinite in Yoga Vedanta Meditation

NEW VIDEO (9:29 Minutes)

INVOKING THE INFINITE IN YOGA VEDANTA MEDITATION
By Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

VIDEO at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-roMQoSlw2o

Included are transliterated Sanskrit and eight different English translations of the invocation of the text entitled Isha Upanishad. The wisdom of this text is central to Yoga Vedanta meditation and contemplation. "Isha" refers to that supreme power which regulates and governs all, and which resides in the heart of all creatures. It is that in which we live, that in which we move, and that by which we are. "Upanishad" means to sit down near the teacher to discuss, learn, practice and experience the means and goals of Yoga Vedanta. "Upa" means "near;" "ni" means "down;" "shad" means "to sit."

"Purna" is the full, infinite, whole, complete. Om or Aum is a compound of A, U, and M, which represent waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, as well as the gross, subtle, and causal realities. They merge into the fourth, the silence, which is the absolute reality.

Om
Purnamadah Purnamidam
Purnat Purnamudachyate
Purnasya Purnamadaya
Purnameva Vashishyate
Om shanti, shanti, shanti

Om.
That is infinite, this is infinite.
From That infinite,
this infinite comes.
From That infinite,
this infinite removed or added;
Infinite remains infinite.
Om, peace, peace, peace.

More of my videos at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/yogabindu

My website:
http://www.swamij.com/
 

Discrimination is the reason for the 8 rungs in Yoga Sutras

THE EIGHT RUNGS OR LIMBS:
The art and science of Yoga is systematically described in eight (ashta) rungs, steps, or limbs (anga). Thus, this section of the Yoga Sutras is also called Ashtanga Yoga. The eight rungs of Yoga are summarized in sutra 2.29, and explained in the next section (2.30-2.34). Subsequent sutras further describe the benefits and methods of working with those eight rungs (2.35-2.45, 2.46-2.48, 2.49-2.53, 2.54-2.55).

1) Yama: codes of restraint, abstinences (2.30, 2.31)
2) Niyama: observances, self-training (2.32)
3) Asana: meditation posture (2.46-2.48)
4) Pranayama: expansion of breath and prana (2.49-2.53)
5) Pratyahara: withdrawal of the senses (2.54-2.55)
6) Dharana: concentration (3.1)
7) Dhyana: meditation (3.2)
8) Samadhi: deep absorption (3.3)

THE EIGHT RUNGS ARE FOR DISCIMINATIVE ENLIGHTENMENT:
The reason for practicing the eight rungs of Yoga (2.29) is to develop attention as the tool for discriminative knowledge, which is the means to discriminative enlightenment and liberation. It means using razor-like attention (3.4-3.6) to separate the seer and the seen (2.17), so as to break the alliance of karma (2.12-2.25), and to get past the four mistakes of ignorance, or avidya (2.24-2.25), which are: 1) confusing the temporary for the eternal, 2) the impure for
the pure, 3) misery for happiness, and 4) the false self for the true Self (2.5). Resulting from this systematic discrimination, the seer or Self is eventually experienced in its true nature (1.3).

DISCRIMINATION ALLOWS SUBTLER INTROSPECTION:
This one-pointed attention and discrimination, which comes from the practice of the eight rungs, is used for examining, exploring, and attenuating the colorings of the subtle impressions of the mind field (2.10), so as to go beyond, inward to the pure, eternal center of consciousness.

THE FIRST FIVE RUNGS SHARPEN THE RAZOR:
If it is razor-like attention that is the tool for discrimination, then it is the first five rungs of the Yoga Sutras which are honing the edge of that razor. Then, the finer, sharpened tool is the last three rungs, which are concentration, meditation, and samadhi, which are collectively called samyama (3.4).

Please also see the articles:
Coordinating the Four Functions of Mind
http://www.swamij.com/fourfunctionsmind.htm
Yoga Sutras:
http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras.htm
 

VIDEO (3:40 min): Meditation on the small and the large - Yoga Sutra

NEW VIDEO (3:40 Minutes)

MEDITATION ON THE SMALL AND THE LARGE
By Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

VIDEO at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzQ1eYR5BfA

When the mind in meditation can be stable on the smallest and the largest, then it is truly under control. Yoga is the mastery, integration, and transcendence of all the fluctuations of the mind field. Then the "seer" rests in its own true nature as pure consciousness or purusha. With equality of purusha and the subtlest intelligence, there comes liberation, and that is the end. (from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

For more information please see:
http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras.htm

VIDEO (9 min): Yantra and Mantra of Sri Vidya Tantra Yoga

NEW VIDEO (9:10 Minutes)

YANTRA AND MANTRA OF SRI VIDYA TANTRA YOGA
By Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

VIDEO at YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd-Pslr4GIw

In the Himalayan tradition, the aspirant breaks through the final
barrier through Samaya Tantra and Sri Vidya, after clearing the mind
through the practice of Yoga meditation as codified in the Yoga
Sutras by Patanjali, and practicing self-enquiry through Vedanta.
Vidya means knowing, and Sri Vidya is the highest of all aspects of
knowing, as it leads to the Absolute Truth. Yantra refers to the
visual form, and Sri Yantra is the form of that knowing. Central to
the practices is Maha-Tripura-Sundari, the great, beautiful one,
essence, consciousness, or reality that dwells in the three "cities"
(tri-pura, or three cities including: gross, subtle, causal; waking,
dreaming, sleeping; conscious, unconscious, subconscious). Sri (or
Shri) is conceptualized as the feminine creative force of Shakti that
is ultimately found to be one and the same with the static
conceptualized as masculine or Shiva.

For more information please see:
http://www.swamij.com/tantra.htm

Saturday, May 24, 2008

AUDIO (41 min): Theism, Atheism, Nondualism, Contemplation, and Shaktipat

THEISM, ATHEISM, NONDUALISM, CONTEMPLATION, AND SHAKTIPAT
Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati

AUDIO RECORDING (PODCAST)
(41:33 minutes)
http://www.swamij.com/podcast/080223-swami-j-cnd-conf.mp3

YOUTUBE VERSION:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7QqMmKa1go

Presentation by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati at the annual conference of the Center for Non-Dualism in Fort Walton Beach, Florida on February 23, 2008. The talk blends three topics: 1) Theism, Atheism, and Non-Dualism; 2) How do I contemplate? What are "great" contemplations? 3) What is shaktipat? How does it work?

See also:
Center for Nondualism:
http://www.centerfornondualism.org

Theism, Atheism, Yoga, and Fear:
http://www.swamij.com/theism-atheism-yoga-fear.htm

Is Yoga a Religion?
http://www.swamij.com/religion.htm

Mysticism, Yoga, and Religion:
http://www.swamij.com/mysticism-yoga-religion.htm