3 Types of Speech

3 Types of speech for general use. The first is Informative, where you are conveying information. The second is Directive where you are trying to instigate action. The third is Transitive (not to be confused with the linguistic concept of transitivity) and is spoken to induce a state of consciousness.

There are three kinds of speech for general use.

Show examples of all three kinds.

We could say that all types of communication fall into these three categories. The last one is the most challenging to detect unless you are good at being your own witness and notice the fluctuations of consciousness in real time. For instance if you see a sign, let's say a billboard. This billboard has a picture, it's designed for men. This picture is of a woman with long black hair and deep wide eyes and she is lying across the length of the billboard wearing nothing to speak of except a very small, and almost unnoticeable bikini. It's wine red and not much bigger than her hands, and you can see rather vividly just next to her is a bottle of vodka.

Now the idea of the sign, is to put you into a state of consciousness, it is not a simple association. It is not trying to associate all almost naked women, at least as almost naked as the community will allow on a billboard overlooking the street. The naked woman, we'll call her, the one with the long black hair and wine red bikini, is there to invoke a response. It is good to notice in your imagination whether she is smiling or what affect she has, and also if there is any story about her that has come to mind via the power of the imagination. The dark haired woman will of course invoke a certain response, and this sexual response will put you into a state of consciousness in which the desire to drink will be aroused also, or one may notice that a sexual response of your mind makes you more prone to suggestion. It is not Vodka equals women, it is desire mind, what to desire? What increases the feeling of desire?

So in TriYoga part of the art and science is to speak the flows with the directive, telling you the breath and where we are flowing. This is mixed with the informative as to what details of alignment can be incorporated, and this is done with a voice that is designed to keep you in a calm meditative state where you maintain the flow of breath. Notice that is not a barrage of alignments, where it is difficult to breathe, or having the teacher yell encouragement over the music which tends to make it a competitive emotional activity.

It is simple, calming, and focused.

The emotional element of speech is a very powerful part of the state of consciousness. The other aspect is the ability to draw upon the senses, and the pacing. If an explanation is very quick then the ideas, the real mental vibrations have difficulty in penetrating, provided that the speaker has real connection to them. This also applies to the use of Sound Form, and Name Form types of speech. Mantra and music enter into the mix as well. The state of consciousness is lowered very easily by the use of fuck, or fucking, or using stupid gibberish. The power to direct and impact thought also has a reverse application in that various forms of speech are more reflective of the state of consciousness of the speaker. This is better understood as forms of discourse. It is easy to see talk shows as based on indulging in emotions, capturing a Jerry Springer moment, is a lucrative art. With religious groups it is often telling you what it means to belong to the tribe and who to hate. "You can't be a christian and vote for ...."

The purpose of course is to have a feel for how things effect consciousness and to always come from the highest or deeper parts of the being. I often notice myself consciously formulating what I am saying in real time to match the goal, of whether I am trying to be directive, informative, or convey some state. This also works to stop speech. When one has the experience of connection, one can sense through Receptivity whether someone has the realization, with the small r, of some idea, or whether they would not be able to understand without experiencing, or without work to lay a foundation. Often a question is not about what you know or think, because it cannot always be conveyed.

For example having a math person explain some specialized aspect of mathematics might go well over my head, however I can also feel where the consciousness is coming from and enter into a kind of mental world. That shift of consciousness doesn't necessarily enable to me to grasp the mathematics, but it does give the transitive effect, you are, as the Free Dictionary would say, Late Latin trnsitvus, passing over. If you have this experience then you will begin to understand the real connection to idea as opposed to knowing what the word means, or the mental formulation of the idea alone.

Caturvarnya

4 types of soul experience loosely speaking, equated with the social dharmas, the laws and codes of conduct, the Knowers, Warriors, Merchants, and Servants. Each implies a kind of drama of situations and circumstances, qualities of chararacter, and even though they are all present in each person, one tends to be more obvious.

Insight developes and expresses through seeing these forms and roles just as people incarnate in them. This is a kind of power of knowledge, and one can spot when other people or other systems of expression have this power, by seeing the subtle real idea behind it. The knowledge will appear behind the words. Broad and particular vision as to the activity of development, the spiritual lesson of an individual or groups life is expressed. Self revealed..

One gains a feel of the shaktis involved and can recognize the flavor of their presense and action.

The knowledge can spontaneously arise, or one can work for a perfection of that knowldge. The expression may be limited due to the needs of the lesson. Self Illusion!

Point Concentration 2

Focus your awareness on a point. Experience the mind at that level. Recognize and then return to that level until it is stable.

The difficulty is most in being able to be self aware enough to recognize the experience of a higher level, and to be persistent.

Point Concentration

Techniques are endless, but practice is profound. Levels of consciousness and states are many, you already are experiencing them, but they may not be organized and named. One way of becoming aware and reorganizing yourself is to practice meditation and get a measure of calmness from which you can see what is going on. I tend to use physical and energy practices because my awareness is developed in these areas. People can be expanded or narrow in their consciousness. Breathing exercises tend to expand and allow the consciousness to be moved and directed. If you are expanded you may lack a coherent self-center. Centering practices help to build up awareness of the many levels of your own consciousness, its many personalities, and movements from these levels. Our spiritual and personal sense of self tends to be too dependent on lower mental formulations without the integration of the emotions and without the higher faculties of intuitive judgment and vyapti, the ability to Identify with something so as to know it. Another way of describing this is the surface consciousness predominates not the inner consciousness. Or there are genuine deeper movements, but they are still controlled and they are covered by a disorganized surface.

To do point concentration, or focusing on a chakra, then the prerequisite is some form of mindwatching. My favorite comes from Swami Radha whose description of this timeless technique is to focus on some object for a few minutes and then after wards write down everything that happened in your mind during your concentration. We our not so concerned with getting it right or what the content was, but rather with the act of being aware of the mind while focusing with it. This can be practiced with different objects of focus for longer times. For instance gazing, or listening, or even reading. The awareness will increase as well as seeing patterns and subtleties of the consciousness and it's movements through the thoughts, emotions, sensations, imaginations, memory, etc.

The first step in point concentration is to concentrate on a point. This leads to Connectedness, that is to feel the point as a center for the body/mind. The body here means the energy body, however at first this is really felt more as a physical sensation of the body volume and an awareness of space around the body.

When you are able to have connectedness then the we go into either light, an inner vision of light, often very bright and not initially very vivid, because it is so bright, or we go into a flavor of energy. This flavor can be felt as weight, whether the energy is heavy and thick, or whether it is light and airy. You may experience both. When this is maintained then we move on to experience of the Frequency.

The Frequency is how the consciousness operates at the chosen level of the point. The things happening in the mind begin to reflect the frequency of the point being concentrated on, and with practice you can distinguish these movements of the mind at this frequency. You recognize the state of consciousness, you are aware of where you are centered and that the mind is operating from there. So at the third eye the mind will begin to act differently in a consistent way and you will recognize it. This recognition has two aspects, the content and the form. So for example you will recognize a more luminous type of thought and you will have a feeling of the state of consciousness that you are in. Note that there is a higher and a deeper, a higher consciousness can act through a lower level by taking up the instrument, the path of involution, or you can also deepen the experience by having a more subtle connection to the worlds of consciousness at the chosen level. You will notice that lower levels influence higher ones also, so for instance an argument can be a mental rational activity or can be an emotional vendetta that takes up the reasoning for its own justification. You can have a pure heart that will come to influence the higher mind as you purify and go deeper. There is however what can be thought of as a native action, what that level of consciousness is, and the principles by which it operates. Mental formulations have doubt. Survival consciousness is predominated by lack.

Then we seek Stability, stability has two dimensions, the first is the ability to center on the point itself, calling in the consciousness of that level, and the second is the dynamic active side where you act from the consciousness of that point. From this you move into Abiding where you have stabilized to the point of requiring no concentration in order to maintain the central dynamic.

You already have many areas where you are stabilized. Your work personalities are a good reference as you become aware of them and name them, after all they are all too familiar and you live them. Then of course there are lower movements, ignorant one, that you also have that you want to move out of or refine. Peronalities are a mix of knowledge, will, trained reaction, and centered activities. So someone at a Starbucks has an identity, more or less defined that is the respresentation of them, the name of what they do. The personality is how they live the knowledge of their job, how to make drinks, what's in them, how to operate and clean various machines, and how to fill out paperwork, work a cash register, how the scheduling works, their benefits, the small wills that carry out these, the underlying motivations, and habits of the body, the list is endless. They also have interconnected interpersonal relationships with their coworkers and customers. The emotional dynamic they have at the counter with customers is often the measure of their quality. As one works with point concentration one will begin to see the movements of the mind in these various personalities. So they may be very cheerful with customers, but very cyncial about paychecks, or towards their medical benefits. They may have a work ethic that stands behind what they do that is a self-measure, or they may be more like an automaton having simply ended up in the situation without much awareness.

As the awareness grows, then for instance point concentration at the third eye will begin to change their interaction with customers. They may get sudden insight into the people at the drive up window, and spontaneous conversation becomes more meaningful. The mystical aspect of life become more prominant. They may find they have accurate perception of what will happen at work before they arrive. They will also feel that lower emotions such as complaining are more powerful, lowering their energy, even being very unpleasant and they will start to shift their views. Stabilizing at the heart may change not only their own feeling, but the ability to project cheerfulness, to relax people and create harmony around them. They will learn to call in the deeper higher heart movements, and reject the lower distortions and mental interference.

Spending time refining doesn't mean being critically aware of everything, that is actually a mental process coming in to try control everything. That will not really yeild much growth. That is a pitfall to be avoided. Better is to get a feel, energetic, emotional, or via inner sense, or inner vision of light as to the right movement in the consciousness. Best to be calm and receptive and allow things to flow....

Nei Jia and Spirit

"Once you have these basic patterns, then the thing that you need to feel is the connectedness. This means that the energy is flowing through the body out to the extremities. At first energy may be something that you confuse (it's an over used term until experience grows), but instead of thinking of it as energy feel it as the body's momentum. You can feel that when you handle objects, feeling their, weight, knowing where they are space by touch. As you feel your momentum and your sensitivity grows then you can find areas in your body where there are dead spots, or dead weight, blocks of tension. You want to work to smooth those areas out.

When you have the energy connected then you will begin to differentiate the yin and yang, and all that means for now is the plyometric response. You can feel the build up and focus on how to build up the energy in order to release it more powerfully. You will also gain the ability to shock, or confuse the yin and yang of the opponent, so their intention lacks clarity, momentarily.

The breathing is essential as this will give you a much greater sensitivity and allows for relaxed activity, relaxed intensity. Over time you build up your capacity to feel the body and maintain your awareness on the body. This has has two dimensions, one is the feeling of your own momentum and the other is feeling the environment, whether that be the earth at your feet, or the opponent's force. You will differentiate the energy/power/movement from the intention.

In the end you will be able to shift where you are coming from emotionally. Negative emotional spaces will effect the movement, and you can become quite sensitive to them. As the emotions emerge you can feel them moving through the body, and you will see the imagination linked with them, things like fear, anger, etc. These then can be removed at their source and as a consequence you will less effected by others, and more calm, able to focus your intention in conflict or stressful situations. Produce great confidence and a powerful intention that communicates around you."

The Future Themes

Part of the coming change in the over all consciousness of the planet will begin to reveal itself in the major themes of movies. With the rise of feminism there has been substantive changes in labor roles based on gender. With these changes we have passed through a phase of changing sexual relations. The understanding of sexual relations is still undergoing change, as genuine knowledge of the effect of sex and spiritual growth becomes more well articulated in modern experience. The conflicting view points, of Christianity, of modern attitudes, and of ancient spiritual science will become reconciled and a new basis for truth accepted. One aspect of this has been that marriage has changed, and many people go through several relationships in their lifetime. The economic dependence of women on men, something which is still understood in our social memory, has shifted and both genders have had to adjust their roles. Strong motivation around the ideal relationship will begin to lose its force, especially sexual desire as the basis for a meaningful substantive ideal. The motivation and appeal of characters will be less focused on who they are going to fuck, or marry, or get to know and be with. Though we might be able to imagine Harrison Ford defending his family from death by the hands of criminals motivated by greed. These strong motive forces are primal, it will be harder to interest people in sexual relations as the basis for stories as the consciousness rises because these too are merely strong lower drives.

Imagine advertising not dominated by sex, or movie glamour not based on physical appearance. It is getting harder to imagine, outside of the coming of age story involving a character motivated solely by love. Even in a story of an adolescent coming into adulthood, these stories of young love are mixed with the seeds of finding their true identity, usually pictured as a job. But their identity, their dream, a mixture of social economic circumstances, recognition, or sense of being based on what they do, will have to have a self conscious awareness of their spiritual growth. Now there is a focus on the problems of social and parental expectation, angst, with a the suggestion that perhaps the character has a special talent, a complex set of forces that set up drama. In place of these problems, authenticity will take on a new dimension as the creative focus for the play of events. For instance the movie High Fidelity, starring John Cusack, has a number of elements about a search for some different basis of living that isn’t primarily motivated by relationships.

The new themes will be more involved with the discovery of the inner being of the person and the seeing of how the person is unfolding in their evolution. Why did the person create this situation and why do these relationships work? What in them attracted these people in their lives? The main way of creating identity with the character will come from the qualities they offer and the types of relationships they attract, the sets of problems to be solved as a growth of their being. Not a goal to fulfil a role. This will be set off by the amount of consciousness, the cooperation with growth that the character gives. Under the present conditions, this type of movie would seem dull and boring, because there is not enough suffering. More than the transformation of the character, there will be a common element of what is the limit of this power of transformation, and how their own self conscious development is involved. Not simply looking back at the change, but looking forward to it consciously and understanding. Stories will not be as problem oriented as solution oriented. Stories that have an element of wisdom, a more intimate truth will gain in value.

This is visible at this time, as a foreshadow, though it can only be glimpsed. There may be moments of the forerunners, but the fullness of this is still years away. There maybe people working on these stories, realizing this new movement, but they will not yet be in fashion able to be seen and appreciated. Their stories, inspired from something higher will not yet be able to take form. Also, the view of the combination of talent of a performer, and the quality of story will become separated in vision from the personal power of the person. A woman with a certain set of traits that make her physical appearance attractive, may have a talent for acting. A woman who is not a valued natural physical beauty may be able to use makeup to make up for less than pleasing physical features and thus use her talent. But part of the change will come when the makeup, and talent will be evaluated with a new element. The power from which the person is able to create their circumstances from their own being. The self they bring. This will be realism. It will be easier to see through the physical appearance to the quality of the inner being of the person in the role, their use of their instrument, what we call talent. Their physical characteristics will begin to diminish in its importance, even how well they act as a skill.

It is hard to imagine. It is easier to imagine that a primarily physical appeal will seem cardboard, false. It is easier to imagine that you can sense the superficial quality, no matter how trained and practice that the lift of an eyebrow is, if there is not a real person creating the situation, bringing themselves to play the role of that part in that story, a special affinity to that part. Their acting will appear technical, and lack an essential quality of beauty, of truth, of art, of the SELF beyond the individual. Stories that lack a wider and deeper spiritual contact will not satisfy. They will not have the universal elements and themes that people find meaningful if the actors and producers and the people behind it aren’t really apart of it. That special feeling that comes to some productions when they all share a common bond, will be magnified. They will not only feel the special bond, but they will be aware of why that bond exists and why they needed to be in that place and experience that unfolding. The audience will recognize it.

The quality will be that everyone will aim to rise, and that ability to rise and to help others will be the value, THE value.

This of course will only be a reflection upon the greater changes…

Inner Experiences

Where the energy is working determines what types of experiences come.

Having been through various cycles of occult and spiritual experiences the first thought is that when the experiences end that there is some loss in the level of consciousness. I would typically find myself looking back at a time when I was more silent or somehow higher. However with more distance the glaring imperfections are more obvious and the growth that came from those experiences more intricate.

The idea of a higher state is not so much the case, the idea of a fall from a state, though those happen also, not so much the truth as a lack of the ability to be conscious as to where the yoga is occurring. Abilities such as sudden insight and foreknowledge of events is not really lost, it is just the energy is not working there. It may be given to see the dead for awhile, but then the energy has to work out other areas where desire may be unrefined, the experiences will then unfold that are needed for that working. Hence the need not to evaluate the progress, but rather to aspire to be more receptive to the divine will.

Ineffectual Sentiment

Ineffectual idealism is something that is common. It is the mistake of thinking that ideas are knowledge rather than tools. Knowledge is not an end point. Knowledge is always progressive, it is always part of action. It is truth force. Although it might appear that knowledge as formulated in mathematics or physics seems to have no action, it is really always part of a wider web of being in the world. Look at all in the science community with technology and effects on our culture that Einstein has wrought.

The same is true of ineffectual emotional sentiment. This is a position of speech where the person is always adding the sentimental ideas of including everyone, proceeding from an emotional appeal. An appeal is different from a flow of feeling, either sensing or projecting force. It starts from that position of an emotional appeal rather than sensing and responding to what is really going on. It wants to be helpful which is to say that it wants to indulge the emotions of feeling helpful, to feel favorite known feelings. Known as comfortable.

It also is a strategy to avoid other feelings, including confrontation, conflict, anger, etc. This is ineffective. Compassion is a higher or deeper feeling that comes with knowledge and identity and leads to real action. A genuine compassion is receptive, sensing where people are suffering, and responds with the faculties to relieve or transform that suffering. When there is no available means or time, and processes must work out, then it proceeds from that basis. There is a sense of the endeavor of removing that suffering as being a common one, but that is an idea that arises from the feeling and the action of the force. That idea is descriptive of the experience of being compassionate. It proceeds from the real sense, not from the wish to feel a certain way or a wish that things be a certain way, if we could just all come together.

A ineffectual emotional sentimental journey begins with such statements as, “We all…” It tries to gather a group identity and proceeds with recognition of commonly shared truths or values and takes comfort in them. That is the gist of ideas when someone speaks. The person saying these things is often setting their own emotional tone, speaking to themselves rather than being focused on the actual topic, or the people present, or even beginning with discriminating the quality of the ideas which their mind is coming up with. There is superficial quality where the topic is not being identified with as a body of experience, or as the subtle body making conscious contact with the object or occasion being focused on.

Energy and time are squandered in this realm which is largely ideas about the world being influenced from the sense mind. The world as pleasant.

Serious Compression

Once you have a basic awareness of energy you can feel any emotional event, outwardly, or inwardly such as a memory, causes a change in the energy. When one focuses on the outward perception of the energy field one can feel how the energy expands or contracts based on the outward or inward contacts.

Walk down a mall and the people you pass will cause different changes and configurations in your energy field. You will feel yourself taking on emotional shapes. The lower emotional forces will cause you to condense, and the higher ones have an expansiveness that keeps some receptivity. The quality and refinement varies. If for instance you are working with some dangerous tool, you may find that the stress produces a very careful and deliberate attitude. If someone appears threatening you may shrink to avoid them, or build up a condensed force in order to control the situation. The trick is to feel the field around the body and gain insight into the proper use of the heart. Many times we have unrefined emotional reactions. Lower forces may predominate, which will tend to constrict one but these emotional reactions can be widened. You can teach yourself to remain open to the higher forces.

Most fears are imaginary.

There is also a confrontation with one's vulnerability at being open, but this is often a passing stage as the higher knowledge that comes from the more illuminated forces will clearly show the flow. In the past there may have been instances where we were open and receptive to the wrong movements, and wrong forces. For instance we may have fallen in with the wrong crowd. Or got sucked into dramas. With the energy awareness comes a different sense of value and the right movement is more easily recognized.

It is better to give than to receive. Some people seek attention, others shy away. Still others try to project an identity or associate themselves with another. You can give people what they need if you have no need to be anything other than open and you have access to the source. Simply saying hello can transfer very positive energy.

Vijnana Chatusthaya

From Sri Aurobindo's Record of Yoga II

Shakti Chatusthaya

From Sri Aurobindo's Record of the Yoga II

Overmind Gradations to Mind

From Sri Aurobindo's Record of the Yoga II

Know

The important thing with knowledge is having contact with the higher planes of knowledge. It’s not about thinking, or reading, but about receptivity. Speech is an expression, one that contains a mix of elements. For instance there is what is being said and the quality of the expression, word choice, rhythm, effective grammar, aptness of metaphor, as well as the emotional tone in which speech is delivered. This is apart from the content of the speech.

Then there is effect of the speech, the intent behind it. Its force. If you are being intimidated by someone, saying “Please, don’t touch me.” Is probably less effective then “Don’t touch me leave me alone!” Effectiveness of speech also enters into the broader spiritual action behind the speech.

This is also true of spiritual knowledge. A teacher may not impart all of their knowledge, but rather say what is needed and most effective to the audience. It is obvious in the flow that we use economy of words, and rather than expound ten or more alignments on each pose, we use one or two with an eye to making corrections. A student’s ability to act on more than one or two cues and remain with the breath is the governing principle.

A theoretical physicist working with quantum mechanics may or may not be able to talk to another physicist working at a super collider. Their areas are too divergent. Pretty simple, but there needs to be a common basis of understanding built up over time. In spiritual matters this relates to experiences and realizations including fine sentiments. Emotions such as compassion and blissfulness can be demonstrated, the feeling shared if their is sufficient development. A yearning in the heart for bliss is awakened as a teacher delves deep, but there needs to be an opening, just as we become more intimate with friends over time.

With knowledge there are gradations. Simple mental knowledge is limited to discussing what words mean, the logical coherency and the consistency of the play of ideas. With higher mental knowledge it reflects spiritual ideas. There is an appropriateness. We may talk about timeless knowledge, but the knowledge enters into the relative world for the purpose of acting as a force upon it. Knowledge is an instrument of the divine will, the divine word is speech.

In listening to someone speak about spiritual understanding there is often a play of light involved. The subtle level of speech can involve all sorts of phenomenon. One common one is people who are mentally focused, who live in predominantly mental world are used to the constant polemics. They actually pull mental energy out of the atmosphere making it difficult to think. This makes them appear smarter as you can not process or respond to what they say because they disrupt the contact, the receiving of the energy of the mental worlds. They will have ideas that can seem brighter than they actually are. Partly this is do to the need to win. If you live in a world of competitive ideas, competitive voices and are under pressure to produce thoughts…

Many people encounter the experience of hearing or reading a spiritual discussion and feel like it is expression what they all ready know. That is because they are already in contact with the spiritual idea, or the spiritual plane, whether it be a higher mental plane or above where that idea comes from. Contacting the plane will lead to the flow of consciousness that generates the ideas and puts them thought like into your head.

When the mind is silent and receptive you can begin to feel where the speech is coming from. It is not a process of understanding categories, and then assigning them. It is more a feel and intuitive discrimination of the energy. You can sense the power of the truth of an idea, and its limitations. Someone can in the course of discussion use the same idea, but when they are connected to its realization it will appear bright and lifting, and then later use the word as a reference and it appears to be a mental idea. You can feel the difference, distinguish the plane of origination and sense the potency or limited action.

You can listen to someone and start to pick out areas where the ideas are mixed in quality. For instance they may have a profound insight into compassion or the energy, but not have the same fullness in the idea of attachment. One can also surrender and be guided in reading or surfing the net coming across that which is needed.

What is important is not who is coming from the higher plane, but rather the effectiveness of fulfilling the work of transformation. You can have wondrous insight and see clearly, but be limited in your expression, not because of lack of skill in writing or speaking, but because of the audience. You can also have profound understanding, but communicate only rudimentary ideas. Symbols and poetry may have the ability to fix and build up a structure for further advancement. They may speak more effectively across levels of knowledge and development. They can more easily invoke experience and contact with real ideas existing in subtle form in their native planes.

All the time though this has to over come the obstacles of the need to be recognized, and taste. For instance you can be distracted while speaking by the power of your own words, or have anxiety about whether you are saying things well. You may also have a need to be heard for the attention that it gives or the place you feel you must establish among others. Often being silent and not speaking is a first step towards the witness. The same is true if you feel the energy coming through in an area that does not appeal to you. The sense of taste blocks us from listening to others as well as our self expression. If you don’t like country music you can not hear it for what it is. People can be very passionate about defending their tastes. They confuse their own impulses for being open and letting the divine come through. It is not enough to control and be discriminating in taste, one has to find the divine in all that is.

Give the need to be recognized in speech to others. Be the spiritual action. There is nothing to be accomplished through talking or writing, no idea that you don't have or to be mastered, only the spiritual flow of existence, vast, conscious, blissful.

Iraq

Many arguments point to intent on the part of leaders. However there are not many voices on the subject of transformation.

It seems obvious to anyone looking at the history of the global system, let's start with the European expansion into the new world and the colonial period, that as they entered into the eighteenth century enlightenment, things had to work themselves out.

This represented the forces of the mental powers. Reason as a basis for authority taking hold of various forms of government. Legal systems, moral culture, the whole of our social institutions, and the rise of science, all came forward.

T'were it a matter for reason then Napoleon and the Great World Wars would not have been necessary. National Socialism, Communism and other ideological movements, including feminism and labor, ideas entailed in little red books, would have been so much talk, and the Meiji Restoration would have had no consequence to the military classes.

In short the growth period of the West and East and all the violence that went with it would not have occurred. Even India in the age of Gandhi had to slaughter with Pakistan. Unfortunately the old ways resist and that struggle plays itself out. To think that the Baath movements would sweep over the Arab world and maybe the Persian one with a miraculous transformation is to have a wonderful vision, but in reality it seems that the Middle East will not make take this step towards a higher realization in all their social and political institutions any better than the Europeans.

Understanding the spiritual forces behind this kind of transformation has long ago been mapped out. The Ramayana represents such a change in the civilization as Ram destroyed the old world of Asura, with Hanuman burning down whole cities with a flick of his tail. The Gita provides a key to the Mahabharata. Environmental forces and the spiritual aspect to the transformation of the biosphere, including the advancement in genetics is where the knowledge is starting to dawn, and the real yoga is taking place.

Swamiji's interest in Bonsai gardening.

Sri Chakra 9

Medtitation Teacher 10

Learn from the Water

The water moves in a cycle from rain to river and ocean and then returns to the sky. Imagine yourself floating on an ocean that extends infinitely in all directions. Feel the ocean as consciousness, as bliss, and go down into the unfathomable depths of the Great Mystery below. Know the vast vistas of peace and clarity above. As the sun, source of all light, the truth, radiates eternity. Seek to move beyond. Know the great, the vast, the true.

There are many flavors to the energy, Shakti. The Devi takes on different forms of action, working with a multitude of powers. As you become more aware you can begin to recognize the Devi's forms, Lakshmi, Durga, Saraswati, Kali, the divine personalities. All have their moods and moments. Maheshwari the transcendent action of Shiva is the connection to the vast. You feel the great expansiveness and it moves through you as with the All. She is the ocean...

Gradations

Two ideas at play. 1) That there are gradations to spirituality. 2) That this is measurable as value.

So there are several claims to be able to measure or determine how lofty an achievement one has. This is usually based in some form of testing that is scientifically based. Such as with measuring the ability to be present in the moment. There are other methods that rely more on intuitive assessment. There is certainly some truth to this. However with the scientific method one has to wonder how far that detection has really progressed. Given the history of scientific understanding. (Of all the matter in the universe most is largely unknown and only recently assumed to be detected indirectly.) That seems more like an attempt of science to enter into the field, of taking over the spiritual knowledge and putting on some sort of sanction of approval. The other aspect is that if we take the idea of an avatar as a descent of the divine power, then we end up with a question of, though it may be measurable how realized the being is, or we may question the capacity of the shell the being is operating from, there is a larger set of circumstances in which that being operates.
So can we compare the Avatars of Vishnu and measure the degrees of their realization in terms of the powers manifested by their shell? If Krishna were to manifest things from the subtle elements of a flower, and shape it into a magic weapon for Arjuna and Matsya the Fish does not, is Krishna more realized than Matsya?
When a person becomes realized how much of that can be measured in terms of the individual qualities and abilities? One can see stages of evolution in one's own growth. One can see understanding dawn, powers awaken, knowledge illuminate and transform parts of the being. The gunas at play will show us moving towards a more sattvic way of being, but at the same time the Guru who is realized is also advancing. However there still seems to be a question of what is needed by those who are progressing on the path hewn by the Guru and what their needs are and that of wider humanity. Maybe the Guru moves from the lower level to the mid-level because that is what is needed by their community rather than it being an individual spiritual achievement of that particular soul.
A common understanding is that there are beings who descend only for teaching a few disciples. Their need to display the ability to manifest objects or to levitate may not be needed. Nor does their physical body seem to support super sensual activity as being able to see the individual frames of a movie as it is projected, nor to they have exacting knowledge of a person's circumstances, past and future. As the people they came to teach already see beyond what is normally considered the physical laws of the universe and have no need of some individualized instance of knowledge. Having a powerful Deva descend and transform the knowledge of the world through an Einstein doesn't seem to me be connected to the spiritual/scientific evaluation of the vibratory level of the Einstein.
A powerfully realized being working through a traditional western religion may not be cranking out teachings that lead to the enlightenment of the people who turn out for confession, however that spiritual action may be very helpful and seems to act from a more universal concern. If we assume enlightenment or realization to be the Divine working through a person, or a light shining through a window, measurement seems to be locked into duality and be a creation of the mental, at the highest level there is no real level. The divine can work at any level and not be touched by the level. The divine that manifests as the great being also manifests the subatomic particle. Neither of them seem discreet entities of actual existence that can exist separate from the rest of us.
It seems more appropriate to look at where one is and follow what one needs to for advancement. And look to the highest as something acting through all existence, within it, behind it, above it. Rather than to rank. Though if presented with the question of two teachers which one do I spend my time on there seems to be a very basic need to evaluate the teachers in this manner.
It would also be very appropriate if one had a graduated system of teachings and realizations on the path of enlightenment as with Tibetan Buddhism. A system of instruction and a way to determine where one is and what one needs to do. Though this seems to some extent to be more individualized than a scientific system could generate. If one were attempting something that would not be subject to the changing circumstances of the advancing world. Which might be following the modle of physics or another hard science. Coming from science is different than the intuitive expression that utilizes science or or ideas as a tool of expression.
There are many teachings and methods that have come and been abandoned. Lineages that are continuous outpourings of light, but seem to reflect more the current master rather than a teaching that has an uninterrupted continuity. It also seems to be the case that many teachers and teachings goes into the life of a given Saint. They all seem to teach for the students and that it comes from insight into their being rather than following an assessment of measurable characteristics.
In following physical methods one can asses the ability of the student to sustain a large numbers of rounds of Bhastrika Pranayama. One can see if someone is ready for a handstand. Or one may see a commonality of experiences that come in meditation such as with the piercing of Chakras, or the ability to enter into the deeper levels of the Sri Chakra. If they reach contact with specific energies they will either go deeper or be caught in that experience. And one can see when others sometimes lack a certain realization. But it is different if spirit is looking back to science and utilizing it. If someone is generating a scheme that allows them to guide and give direction and goals who has traversed the path and has the vision/knowledge/light they will not need a test, they will see. The transcendent is transcendent and the relative is relative.

Notes from Kriyavati

Lead by the example of being...

This seem to come up in several conversations. People describing other people in social gossip and not making this connection. Drug users such as with alcohol learn behavior from the drug use itself. Discipline of taking it, but also emotional personalities while under the influence. These continue after the drug is gone, for instance the sociability, humor and alcohol, the emotional dramas and manipulative lower vital with meth, and such.

It makes it interesting to look at diet and the gunas.

When you are not being heard, do not share, be receptive to the higher. Interesting to watch the energy and vibration. More than once a question would come up about a level four flow that I knew well. The person asked didn't know. I would demonstrate. The person who asked would get it wrong and it didn't feel right after I showed them, but rather than listen to my alignment or movement correction they again asked the person who didn't know. It seemed to be a habit of roles within the group, clique!@. I want to look in the mirror at that one. It may have been the voice of delivery that the person didn't recognize. It clearly felt as if they were not receptive, but they could see me doing it.

I have a balance between the time spent on practicing teaching and the time in practice. Less time on how to teach more effectively there are not the people receptive to it. (The answer to my question to Kaliji.)

Kaliji was very aware of when people were responding to her energy, as the other person had this wave of extra joy, and needed to express it to her by talking about themselves and what they had/were been doing. She would affirm them "that's wonderful" and the effect of the energy.

Congruency-express joy...

Kaliji made a point of saying it was all in the mind and that was what stopped us in some postures. I noticed that all the level four/five postures that she introduced I could do. In particular I wanted to fly through the air as lightly as the angelic Gabriel did from Mountain to Crow. At the workshop I managed it, with effort. On getting home I couldn't stay balanced for a few days do to apprehension. However this was very much in the flow, because I could identify the difference in the flow of the energy and the emotions, the mind. Isolating that vibration, I could remove it and land well and balanced. The amount of effort was the result, less energy wasted on emotional noise. Now I can look for that same vibration in some of the other challenging flows. (It's in the mind. Where?)

Pranavidya Notes

Please grant me a fearless control of desire with a strong vitality, openess to universal love, inspired creativity, intuitive knowledge, and perfect liberation.

PV manual chakra associations (It's on the test).

This simple affirmation contains within a wealth of means to practice.

Awareness of fear is the first goal. Many fears are simply a result of the mechanical action of our mind. We see a situation and the possible threat. For instance someone tailgating you in traffic. A large number of these fears are so habitual that we simply react to them without them being noticed or felt as fear. Some are useful, some are groundless. The imagination is filled with fear possibilites. There are ones that arise effecting our behavior in limiting ways. They need to dealt with and removed. For instance social fears. A certain type of dress or hairstyle may lead us to be defensive. Baggy panted teenagers traveling in groups may cause unoticed fear. Here an easy remedy is to actually percieve what is going on rather than to have perception colored by the fear so that we are reacting to our internal image rather than the external reality. Or for instance if you have a lot of credit card debt, someone who displays obvious wealth may make us fearful because of our own undealt with issues. Or we may be fearful of encounters with the mail or the bank. These fears have to be felt to be dealt with by feeling them so they are in our awareness and then thinking clearly with acceptance as to what needs to be done. If they are groundless (as most fears are) then rejected. If they are based in some actual situation then we need to be clear as to what steps to take.

One of my favorite adaptations to social fear is to walk into the social gathering and look for the person is standing alone and isolated (I am that person) and talk to them.

Control of desire is necessary for any progress in the yoga. Desire is a constant force. Media studies ways to manipulate via desires. The society creates mechanisms for the fufillment and regulation of desire. Everyone at some time or another will have to look at diet. Regulation of your food desires and establishing a good direction for what you eat takes time, study and change of habits. Anyone who had done the flows and pranayama regularly will notice the changes in the consciousness, how some desires and habits fall away. Self inquirey is a tool. We become clear. We can feel the impulses and desires and chose to act on them or reject them. Just like becoming smooth and graceful in the flows, eliminating the wobble missalignments, we reduce the background noise. Our life habits are the same as we eliminate desires we are reducing the noise so that we can have a mind filled with calmness and concentration.

A strong vitality is neccessary to accomplish anything. We need the energy. Things that sap of of energy include negative emotions, tension, poor diet...Having a positive attitude, clear direction, satisfaction of accomplishment all lead to abundant energy. Increasing the flow of prana through the flows, and pranayama lead to incredible energy and stamina. Kaliji travels the world for months with little sleep, always working, and is always postive and in the moment and ready to help others giving freely of the energy with love and devotion. (most people would complain)

Universal love, following the physical practices will open the nadis and awaken the heart. Looking for and seeking the divine in all things and situations, in all people and events. This means rejecting negative tendancies. For instance there are three levels of argument. The first is to seek truth, when one speaks or logically thinks about something to find truth. In the second level one is seeking to use logic and argument to agrandise oneself or an extension of the ego such as your country. In the third level one is seeking to destroy and tear down someone or something. If you constantly seek the truth and reject the other motivations the mind becomes clearer and one can more easily open the heart to feeling, for the spirit is behind everything. In truth everyone is seeking to be happy even if they are using ignorant means to achieve it.

Inspired Creativity...Swamiji has written thousands of bhajans. When you need ideas your mind unfolds the joyfull possibilities and things come together and organize as an expression of love.

Intuitive knowledge comes from the breathing. One can have sudden insight into the yoga, and even for see the coming events. One has to be aware of the quality, the sattvic nature of the contents flowing into the mind and reject the rajas and tamasic elements.

Liberation...the divine is not limited to the momentum, the samskaras of nature. The divine can move freely according to the divine will and the universal need of the spirit.

Meditation Teacher 9

Learn from the Gas Station

We measure out our energy and restore it in different ways. Rest, vacations, taking a break. Meditation restores our energy and begins to awaken us to a universal source of energy. We first notice this by understanding how much the emotional part of the being supports the physical and mental energies. When we are depressed we have no energy and conversely when we are excited there can be a restless over abundance. As we tune into the flow we slowly realize the universal source of the energy. When you are practicing the flows and the breath is harmonized there is abundant energy even in areas where the strength is challenged. As we learn to keep the heart open and flowing then there is support, devotional, peaceful, wondering, enthusiastic, emotions for each unfolding moment. When the mind is calm and quiet we receive inspiration. In life situations we can go to touch the flow and move from that space, giving us abundant energy.

One way to control the emotions is the mood modification of music. A strong beat will give you energy. Music is an art, but it is not also without deep knowledge. Swamiji's music is balanced in the elements just like you can tune into the balanced tattwas of a natural place and appreciate the beauty. By listening to Swamiji's music you can open up the nadis, tune into the flow and then begin to have songs pop in your head with the right space of the heart for that situation. You move to a different rhythm you voice picks up an elevated song. One of our meditation methods is to become absorbed in music. Kaliji always has Swamiji playing the background at the Ashram, it's amazing.

Three things that weaken our energy are, taste, judgement, and wrong doing. Many people for instance are blocked by there sense of taste from actually seeing clearly or bringing to bear their awareness to something. For instance if you only eat what you like and not seek foods that are beneficial. If your constantly judging others then you are not really seeing them, or seeing the flow behind it. For instance supporters from another spiritual tradition gave space for Triyoga and someone was worried about the other tradition. They judged it and didn't see the fruit, they simply caused drama and negative emotions that had to be resolved by others. This is very common in all traditions of people trying to "protect" or keep thing pure. It revealed the tamas guna at play in the working of nature. Wars are fought. Spirit needs no protection and does not need to be purified, it purifies you, and moves you in the flow.

The last one is wrong doing. If you know something like gasoline is bad for the environment then it slowly drains you if you have to use it. Every time you go to the pump you are aware of it. However you may have to accept it for the time being. You may not have the resources or the life situation to change the way you live or the kind of car you drive. The heart can aspire to the higher truth and better way of being. As the heart feels this you enter into a flow where the greater truth and power of the divine can begin to move things through people and events towards realization. If you deny it, or stuff the feeling at the pump you hampering the flow of the energy. To always be in the right place at the right time with exactly what is needed for that moment doesn't change the universe, you are that universe in that moment.

Meditation Teacher 8

Learn from the Washing Machine

A washing machine works by agitation. This is what removes the stains. It is an action and a chemical process with the water and detergent. Meditation acts to clean clothes. The clothes represent our self and personalities, the identities we have in the world. When we do pranayama our energy is increased and the subtle nadis, the currents of energy are cleaned. This is like the detergent and water. The stains we are cleaning are sometimes very visible and sometimes they are more ordinary grime. Meditation washes them clean. When we are agitated, or the mind is out of control we can immediately see the need to return to calmness. Sometimes when we sit things come into the mind, old agitations, old traumas. These come to our mind in order for us to feel them through and release.

There two ways, the first is that we tend to distract ourselves from feeling pain and negativity. So we escape or do things to that put our mind somewhere else. We need then to bring our awareness into the pain and feel it in order to remove it. The other way is that we need to change the source of the pain. Sometimes we know pain and that is more comfortable then change. For instance we may cling to old habits such as overeating because we know that habit well and inducing change brings fear. This way involves not feeling or following the old habit but instead rejecting it. Just as sometime we must toss clothing that is too stained, or too worn.

Acceptance and rejecting must come from the light and truth.

Meditation Teacher 7

Learn from the Interior Designer

Your home is a reflection of the inner self. We spend time creating environments both beautiful and functional, or messy and frustrate. In meditation we become the interior designer of our mind by entering into the peaceful sublime.

The breathing exercises that prepare one for meditation bring a silence and for many they find that silence at no other time. In the same way we do not leave a TV on 24 hours a day whether anyone is watching or not. We don't want the mind constantly churning out thoughts meaningful or habitual, or just to fill the space. Brining quietness, silence to the mind is cleansing.

Just as we get into stale habits in the house, we can find that our mind occupies itself with old thoughts, often unexamined. For instance we often make our minds up about something, or someone, and that thought is held even though life moves on and change occurs. We hold the judgments and ideas with supporting emotions and our personal relation and identities.

We may have a habit of the mind that when we realize that we are holding old material we feel a need to analyze it to death. We may even avoid dealing with something because of the effort, or spend time imagining dealing with something as a large task. We may wait in order to talk to someone about it. However when one is in a peaceful state of mind one can feel the stale lifeless ideas and old judgments, recognize them and let go. One has a sense of the quality of the feelings, ideas, and judgments. The intuitive discrimination awakens, and new inspiration can come in.

This letting go includes the releasing the need to analyze something as a habit of controlling our own thoughts. We are taught to make judgments about thoughts from an early age. When one has experienced this it becomes possible to simply stand back as the witness and open ideas and movements of the mind to expansiveness and peace. One watches the creative flow of inspiration transform our thoughts and emotions.

If we are not judgmental and dependent on maintaining our old positions it frees this energy for growth. When we are in the present moment our thinking, reasoning and rational is clear and precise we move from emotional reacting, to feeling. We don't identify with the mood of the moment or this or that particular emotion such as anger, but we have calmness as our foundation.

Meditation Teacher 6

Learn from the Dancer

Dance has many components. One can simply surrender to the feeling of the rhythm. The universe has its own flow and rhythm that springs from the oneness of being felt as Ananda. This is often pictured as the Nataraja, Shiva in the form of the cosmic dancer. When the Nataraj stops dancing the universe is destroyed. Just as when the song stops the world of the mind, the flow of the imagination and emotions, sustained by the music transitions. Dance too can also be structured with comprehensive training of the mind, body and emotions. Dance can be a social activity as display, part of the rituals surrounding marriage or as a religious expression. It can be an expression of companionship and intimacy.

When we come to meditation we want to enter into the flow. Not as a compulsion, a duty, a chore, but as joyful entering into the flow. Meditation is a natural expression of joy.

Meditation Teacher 5

Learn from the Conductor

This is about learning to orchestrate, the mind, in order to perceive the inner nada.

Sounds...

This is a typical Kaliji saying that seems simple to the point that it goes in one ear and out the other. To orchestrate the mind to me means to brings things into the flow. The mind, at least the one that I use is filled with voices, images, memories and sense data, not to mention thought and emotions. Getting my self to a point of silence has not been without deliberate practice. Creating a space for practice and as with any musician, working on a variety of skills requires dedication and setting priorities, but not as a grim task or forced servitude. There has to be a joy and passion for the art. Then there is putting the skills into action in order to focus the aspiration, the silence and peacefulness so that one can hear the ever sound from which emerges all.

A conductor not only has many skills, and has to manage many dimensions, the people, the equipment, the resources, the conductor has to have a love and a feel for the music.

Meditation Teacher 4

Learn from the Real Universal Studios

Manas is the screen upon which the contents of the mind is projected. It also refers to the world of the senses. We use the senses gather knowledge of the world. Buddhi is the higher discriminating faculty. At a higher level there is direct judgment of right and wrong, that is intuitive. The Mahat is the universal mind from which all knowledge is drawn. In meditation we can receive answers to questions, concentrate on something and come to know it, even when it is not present or is distant in time and space. The expansion into the universal mind leads to spiritual knowledge. You witness the manifestation of the world from the universal mind.

One area of knowledge is the different levels of consciousness and mapping out the various aspects of mind. But when one begins to get into contact with the universal mind then there is a mixture of higher and lower. When the mind is calm it is easy to distinguish. One can see the mechanical thought patterns, working like hypnotic suggestions, the desires that hardened into their own habits of indulgence, the sense of taste that stands royally presiding over all, not allowing in the new or the different or allowing you to directly experience something rather than its own preconceived notions.

Entering into the Mahat is partly a surrender of the mind to the greater openness and creativity, partly a matter of letting go of the habitual clutter and business, partly a matter of enjoying the play of Devi as she moves through your being. Above all one stands as witness. Perhaps tempted to rush out and explore the riches, perhaps denying them or seeking to use them. As meditation deepens one sees the wisdom of unfolding, of the flow. The flow moves from the universal mind and all is blissful lila.