See Below

This post continues from the last.

Opening to knowledge, getting that opening to grow so that one lives inwardly, purifying all the voices and movements that will cloud that opening is an aim of a stage in many disciplines. We know that knowledge and bhakti are related and that the high aim is to dwell with the knowledge of God in complete surrender of devotion.

The aim is to take this knowledge that comes through the higher faculties (distinct from the mental) and apply it in the world. The guidance leads us where? What is this intuition for? How does it relate back to Bhakti? Seeing that the earlier stages of bhakti are very much concerned with refuge in the world, and the giving of what is good. We also see that knowledge seeking is the third level. It is almost that the world becomes knowledge.

In Triyoga we work on the 3 bodies, physical, subtle and causal bodies. The physical includes the flows, working on the diet and lifestyle. The subtle includes the flows, pranayama, mudra and meditation. The causal is feeling the bliss. The three bodies can be subdivided into the five koshas, physical, pranic, mind, knowledge, and the bliss that surrounds the soul.

In this progression, for me, I was aware of the energy and emotional dimension of the physical practice when I came to it. For some this will have to be awakened. Pointing out body language and change of feeling, change of consciousness from doing the flows maybe helpful for them to flip on that switch that gives them the "aha!!!" Realizing the switches of consciousness from the day dream quality to the linear logical or back again as a matter of choice comes from doing sun moon breath is a good nudge.

When we do the flows, and mudras, with the coordinated breath we are opening up the flow of prana in the nadis. This brings growth. The physical flows and breathing stimulate the prana and this changes the nadis. This purifies the subtle energy and this goes more subtle to effect the mind. For instance doing the flows one can experience releases of emotion, such as fear, anger or even the laughing kriya. As we go deeper, aided by the systematic pranayama developed in pranavidya then we begin to gain deeper knowledge, entering into the Vijnana Kosha, knowledge sheath. Here we get streams of inspiration, knowledge about the flows, but also includes insight into others as well as into the self.

Part of that growth is the transformation of the heart. For instance when the breathing is established then the mind quiets. When I talk about the quiet mind, that is easier to grasp then the quietness in the heart. The quietness in the heart allows us to be in the present moment with our feelings, to feel what we feel without the habits of the thoughts racing around, and the imagination setting the drama. This is felt as calmness (quietness is the mind) and leads to peace, and joy. It various with the level/element. For instance it is resting and relaxation in earth, but it is enthusiasm and joy of accomplishment, the happy willfulness and enjoyment of strength, in the fire. The elements are never really isolated. We work them all in any flow, but they are emphasized in any series. Fire is any series three and in level three for instance.

There is also the corresponding subprana and the chakra. For instance series three the fire element deals with the manipura at the navel. The subprana is samana and this is the energy that allows for digestion, the processing of the experiences that are taken in.

The inverted poses and flows of Level 6 transcend duality and the elements. It can bring about strong intuitional movements from the body as it flows without direction of the mind into the poses. My favorite is watching someone in handstand getting the laughing kriya and giggling away...and it gets way cooler than that watching Kaliji!!!

Cultivating/establishing sincerity, calm receptivity, gratitude, compassion, love, all come out of this basic ability to feel the energy expressed by the heart. Bliss dawns.

Having established a flow of guidance, and the movements from the heart one is presented with awareness of the outerworld. The Bhakti and the aspirations provide better movement than the mental mind.

One can talk about the various forms of karma, about the jyotish configuration in your chart and even demographics and class structure. I prefer to refer to internal congruence (http://www.learningstrategies.com).

One has to have reached a level of understanding that acknowledges that our inner world is effecting our manifesting world. We can say we create reality, but this to me always comes across as too mental, like our perspective and the world are one. But let us say that there is a mechanical unfolding of our nature and there is a navigation that occurs due to our consciousness. What we concentrate on we bring towards us. And there is a stream of the Flow that comes from the higher nature of the Devi (femenine form of the energy and consciousness) creating and working in the vastness, and flowing through the millions of lives on the planet, all the varied forms of life on earth with all their interactions down into the foundations of the universe with it millions of galaxies and subatomic particles. And I feel good when I finish an art project, imagine what the Devi feels creating the universe....the causal body, bliss.

I had a friend who I talked with about this subject. I asked if he could find an example in his life of concentrating on something then seeing the creation or shaping of an event. He wasn't to sure at first, but he came back a few months later. He was really into bikes, building a chopper. In fact he was really into American Chopper on the Discovery channel. One of the bike masters on the show had a set of handle bars that my friend wanted for his own bike. He had a few art books on the chopper and in the morning would take a gander at those handle bars at breakfast. He thought about trying to build his own. My friend had the skills, but thought that it would be very challenging to weld and he might go through a couple a sets of handlebars, not cheap! before he got it right. So he waited till he went to Sturgis.

He knew the Bike Master and thought he would get a chance to talk with him about the handle bars at the rally. He arrived at the rally to find the Bike Master in front of some cameras. Discovery was filming a documentary and wanted people in the audience to ask questions. No one was asking any good questions. My friend wanted to know about the handle bars, but in private. But then he thought, here he is, and they want good questions. So the question popped out. As it so happens the Bike Master said rather surprised, that the handle bars were in his new catalog that been released the day before. So he wouldn't have gotten the catalog yet in the mail.

My friend saw how he had focused his energy and received the result. It also works on the level of symbol or metaphor as getting a handle on one's life. Seeing the world as knowledge of the self.

Fate is what you can't change, but destiny is what you create.

have to continue this later...but internal congruence, being in the flow, I am sure it will come out just in time.