Project Avalon Hero
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Big Island, Hawaii
Posts: 2,008
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Re: The Real Mer ka Ba, not the new age disinformation.
Having been a practioner of meditation since 1970, there are a few thoughts I'd like to share here.
My first spiritual teacher was a master from India who initiated me and gave me a mantra to practice daily. Being a neophyte, I knew nothing about meditation and thought it about as useful as sitting in the broom closet, but all my friends were doing it and it was "the thing" to be learning and it seemed something inside me wanted to travel this particular spiritual path.
Some of the initial meditations with my first yoga teacher (who had also studied with various Indian Masters) was very simple where we would focus on a candle flame or at a rose and work at maintianing that image at the 3rd eye level. Meanwhile, we would silently do our repititions (which would involve a spiritual name that was given to us). My spiritual name was Karuna. I thought it an ugly name and wasn't too impressed with my teacher for giving me this name. I had hoped to get something that sounded lyrical and lovely, whereas, to my way of thinking all those years back, the word karuna seemed masculine and boring.
Needless to say, I was the doubting Thomas type and didn't take anything anyone said at face value as I needed a good solid practical explanation and proof. Well I stuck with my repititions for years.. and also engaged in a variety of meditations. In fact, I would even lock myself in the sensory deprivation room at the University to practice and would also work at projecting consciousness out beyond my physical body during some of these meditation periods.
Well, the long and short of it is after years of teaching yoga and meditation practice I had a very major kundalini opening, which I was not prepared for because by this time all of my teachers had moved out of the state or were back in India. Those who have had kundalini awakenings know what that is all about. Heat streams up from the base of the spine and one feels as if they are standing with their back to the fireplace and can't escape. Of course various psychic centers open and one is inundated by the emotions of others. Even the simple task of going to a grochery store was emotionally painful as I was flooded with the feeling emotions of others.
I had read where some who have this experience have to retreat and have someone care for them as they are just too sensitive to function in normal society. And of course there is a breakdown of boundaries as one merges with the "oneness" of it all, but the "oneness" at the lower levels of spiritual growth and expereince can be somewhat painful until one learns how to raise their inner vibrational frequency.
Needless to say no one in my immediate circle had a clue as to how to help me deal with all this heat energy which was running through and lasted for years.
So as a means to help myself I stopped meditating, figuring I was in deep water without a guide and without a means to traverse this river. However, just because I had stopped the practice of meditation didn't mean that the kundalini experience stopped. If anything, any spiritual blocks are magnified and karma can be intense as these energies trigger unresolved past life issues as well.
I waited for about 10 years until I found a Sant Mat Master and again practice this style of meditation for two years before being initiated. This form of meditation was very different than what I started out with. Sant Mat is a scientific approach to meditation. One is to focus on the image of the master at the third eye level, so that when they spiritually transcend the physical body, and find themselves on the spiritual plane the master is there waiting to help guide them in these upper spiritual realms. The other focus of attention is on the upper chakras above the head, not in the body as this by-passes having to go through the various karmic blocks that may exist in the the unconscious of the practioner.
A true spiritual master also can assist with karma and may even take some of the student's karma onto himself whereas he is now the one working the student's karmic energy through to resolution/balance.
The practice of Sant Mat is much simplier then what has been put forth here. One sits and does the reptitions as a means to give the monky mind something to do. The repetitions are the names of the masters who dwell in the upper spiritual realms so if one accidentially pops into an upper realm, the guide for that particular realm is available to the meditator. However, when on this particular spiritual path, one is asked not to eat meat, not to use drugs, not to intentionally hurt anothers heart and not to drink alcohol. Instead, one is to meditate for a 2 hour period daily.
In the past, I've have been in the midst of thousands of Sant Mat practioners and it was an incredibly peaceful experience. One isn't trying to do anything.. ego is very small and the focus is having an environment which supports the meditation practice. As the meditiation is in the upper chakras there is not the same experience with kundalini as there is in other types of meditations. And with Sant Mat, if one is really working with it by doing the daily practice, the repetitions help to reduce karma as one is not attached to outcome, but instead is attached to the repititions and seeking the teacher within.
Needless to say there are many forms of meditiation with just as many types of spiritual outcomes (popping into various spiritual heavelnly realms) and physical side effects. And it is also very helpful to have a teacher handy, willing, and knowledgable to help one through the spiritual rapids should they appear.
Be responsible. Be willing. Be at peace.
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Last edited by Carol; 10-18-2008 at 04:15 AM.
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