My initiation into Kriya Yoga

After I was asked to leave Parmath Niketan Ashram, I decided to move over to the big white dome-shaped ashram on the top of the hill, called the Kriya Yoga Ashram. I had dropped in the day before, attracted to its prominent stature in town and my pre-existing interest in Kriya Yoga. It had that sort of feeling to it, not necessarily a welcoming one, but one of a serious nature that you don't just drop into. Unlike Parmath, that has open gates during the daytime and is somewhat of a tourist attraction, I immediately sensed that the Kriya Yoga Ashram was not an attraction, but a serious place of practice.

One thing that gives off that vibe is that Kriya Yoga is protected. It is not offered freely to anyone who comes by. Ever since I read Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda, about a year ago, I became fascinated with the practice that the book really explains almost nothing about. Rather, it tells of the many stories of Yogananda, how he came to start practicing Kriya, and what kind of supernatural powers his masters were known for having. I would say most of the foreigners who end up at this ashram also come because they have read Autobiography of a Yogi, and want to know more.

I'm not really interested in developing supernatural powers, but my curiousity has been leading me to explore various paths and techniques for as long as I have been interested in spirituality. It's a good thing, really, to have this sort of curiosity, but it can be potentially dangerous unless you have a sort of  "spiritual sales resistance." Mine is strong, as I am quite skeptical of things of this matter in general and hesitant to buy-into anything. Also, I already have a practice, so I'm not shopping around for a new car, I'm just test driving them for the hell of it. I remember the first couple years of practicing Buddhist meditation, I'd always ask any teacher I came across about mixing different practices and traditions. Most told me don't do it, just find one and stick to it. But how do you know if you have found the right one?

Surely it is my skepticism and doubt in the beliefs of my homeland that has led me to be looking at eastern traditions in the first place, so does it really make sense to drop one thing and then just pick up the next, just like that? I don't think so, but those teachers did make a good point. If you just do a little of this and a little of that, you are only skimming off the top and you never allow yourself to go deep by fully committing yourself to one practice.  Now, some years later, I don't ask that question anymore, because I've already found my answer. I have my practice, which most of you know is vipassana meditation, and it comes from the Therevada Buddhist tradition of SE Asia. Additionally, I enjoy various forms of yoga, including Bhakti (devotional), Asana (physical postures), and Pranayama (breathing exercises). Not only that, but I'm open to try just about anything.

It is with this attitude that I came to be initiated into Kriya Yoga, which I have been practicing for the past few days now. When I first showed up with my bag, the guy look at me and reluctantly agreed to let me stay. "How long do you want to stay?" he asked. "I'm not sure, maybe 4 or 5 days," I said. "You can stay for no more than 2 nights," he replied. That ended up being a confirmation of that feeling I got, that this isn't just a place for anyone to come to. So I stayed for a couple days and liked the energy of the place quite a bit, even though I wasn't really participating in the morning and evening ceremonies that I later learned were compulsory. I wasn't quite ready to leave Rishikesh yet, and didn't want to relocate a third time, so I asked him if I could extend my stay a bit. "You want to stay longer?" he asked. "Yeah, it's very nice here, I don't want to leave yet." He sort of contemplated for a second, asked me what room I was in, and then said, "Okay, you can stay, but if we need your room, I'll let you know at least 2 days in advance."

The guy has ended up being probably the nicest Indian I've met on my entire trip so far, and I really wouldn't have ended up staying here if it wasn't for his kindness. It's interesting how I went from only having permission to stay for 2 days to being given an open-ended extension with the idea that I'd be given a 2-day notice to vacate. I tend to believe I was in a probation period those first two days, to see if they wanted to keep me around.

When I asked them if I could learn about Kriya here, he pointed me to a small flyer on the front door about the upcoming retreat with Per Wibe, a western teacher. I skimmed the details, but immediately dismissed it as a possibility. I wanted to stay focused with preparing for my upcoming yoga teacher training program and besides, it was a bit too expensive. But then something happened. While I was meditating in the main hall, during one of the evening ceremonies that I finally decided to join, I felt the energy of the place in a different way, and got a real sense of respect and admiration for the secretive and protected tradition, as well as all the masters that have handed it down throughout history. When I thought about it, I realized how many things had to go right for me to end up in the position I was in. I had to get kicked out of Parmath, I had to stumble into this ashram and then be reluctantly allowed to stay. Then, instead of leaving as instructed, I had to ask for permission to stay longer, the permission had to be granted, and then on top of all of that, there just happened to be an 8-day retreat starting during my stay.

I was already signed up for a 3-day retreat at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery at the end of the month, so I wouldn't be able to do the full 8 days, but the Kriya retreat happened to allow the option to participate in only the first 4 days. Out of all the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have read and been intrigued by Autobiography of a Yogi, how many of them have the opportunity to be initiated just fall into their lap? At that moment, while meditating, I realized I had to do it, and that it was crazy to think that I was almost about to let it slip through my fingers.

Today, being day 4, I'm just kind of finishing up and getting ready to head north to the Tibetan monastery, and looking back on this experience, I feel I made the right decision. But again, it was actually the main guy who works here that proved to be the deciding factor, because when I failed to find flowers in time for the initiation ceremony, I had given up, and resorted to looking at exit travel plans online in the lobby. When he walked by, he stopped, and asked why I wasn't getting initiated. "I don't know, I got lost in town and couldn't find the flower shop, and then just got stressed out about it and came back." He could obviously sense my disappointment. His eyes got big, and he eagerly insisted I follow him outside, where he proceeded to run around barefoot, plucking the 5 different types of flowers needed for the ceremony from the garden, and handed them to me. Actually, he had plucked 6. Then, he escorted me into the meditation hall and collected some cushions for me to sit on. I was pretty embarrassed, basically arriving 30 minutes late at this point, and would have never had the nerve to do it if it hadn't been for him. "It's okay, it's okay, you should initiate, it's good luck for you," he insisted with a genuine smile.

And just like that, I came to learn the technique as taught by Mahavatar Babaji, who taught it to Lahiri Mahasaya, who then taught it to Sri Yukteswar Giri, who in turn taught it to Paramahansa Yogananda and Swami Narayana Giri, who in turn taught it to Swami Shankarananda Giri, who in turn taught it to Per H. Wibe, who in turn taught it to me.

I must say, I've never quite felt anything quite like the power and energetic forces of this technique. I can't tell you what the technique is, but I can say it deals with using the breath to move energy through the body with the powers of attention and observation, breath retention, compression, stretching, and the chakras. Although I'd say it takes me to a plane of consciousness I've never been to before, it doesn't compare, for me, to the step-by-step progression that is paved with wisdom in the Buddha's path to liberation. In Kriya, I get a really good "high" from it, but after 10 or 15 minutes, it wears off, and to get it back, I need to do Kriya again. I'm sure there are some wonderful things at work here, with this technique, such as cleansing of the body and purification of the mind, but it's all a bit of a mystery. You don't quite understand how you get to that plane of consciousness, so in that way, you don't know how to get back there when it goes away. On the contrary, with the Buddhist practice of insight meditation, you are fully aware of each step of the way, and at any point, you can easily turn around and understand how you got to where you are. Not only that, but you can also share that insight with others, both because of the clarity of the wisdom and the lack of secrecy in the tradition.

So I've test driven another car, had a wild ride, and am looking forward to getting back to the basics of Buddhism (although Tibetan Buddhism isn't so basic). All this esoteric type stuff sure is interesting, and exciting, but it's just not quite right for me. I think the more I experience, the more open-minded I become, and the more I can accept the validity of different paths, even without completely buying into them. Instead of seeing my path as being the only path, I can see that it might just be the right path for me, but not for someone else. Although we are all, in-essence, one, it's important to understand and celebrate our diversity. If everyone in the world was a Buddhist, it would be boring, and it just wouldn't make sense. Ancient traditions need to be preserved, and thereby by accessible to future generations, that might just find them as being the perfect path for them. Maybe someday, my kids will read Autobiography of a Yogi, be initiated in Kriya, and become full-fledged Kriyabans. If that day comes, I won't be disappointed.

May all beings be open and receptive to signs that might lead them to new opportunities.

May all beings be willing to accept and celebrate the diversity of humanity.

May all beings come to know themselves through their own efforts.


To learn more about Kriya Yoga, Per Wibe, and the beautiful ashram here in Rishikesh, please visit:

http://www.kriyabanservice.com

To learn more about Paramahansa Yogananda, the author of Autobiography of a Yogi, who brought Kriya Yoga to the United States in the early 1900's and started the Self-Realization Fellowship, which has its international headquarters in Los Angeles and over 500 centers worldwide, visit:

http://www.yogananda-srf.org

Gratitude in the first 5 minutes

Sometimes, I wonder why I experience so much unhappiness on meditation retreats, but then I remember, it's because all of the usual things I depend on for happiness are stripped away. All that's left, is long days with my oldest and most annoying friend, my mind. On many retreats, we are asked to keep silence, not to read or write, avoid listening to music or watching some sort of media, refrain from using the internet, overeating, or playing any sort of games. Basically, there is nothing to do except practice.

Often, in these situations, I notice that my attitude is poor. Whenever I am identifying with my mind, my attitude is negative, judgmental, and doesn't want to be there. In my last post, I talked about generosity as a way to invite happiness into our lives, but that usually requires some sort of human contact. Of course, you could practice generosity without human contact by doing things like planting trees, picking up trash, or doing something nice to animals, but on retreat, those aren't really options. In this article, I want to share with you what has become my secret weapon to keep a positive attitude and a balanced mind.

Upon waking, if we can remember to connect with gratitude in the first 5 minutes, we are building a solid foundation for which to keep us afloat throughout the rest of the day. When we practice, we keep things day by day, just so the whole thing doesn't become too overwhelming. One day, on retreat, can seem like a week, so if you are on a 10, or 20 day retreat, the thought of enduring can sometimes be too much, so it's best to keep it simple. In fact, taking things one step, or one breath at a time, works even better, but for the sake of gratitude, we can practice day by day.

As I said, this is really something to remember. Yes, we might need to cultivate gratitude before we can remember it, but these two can happen at the same time. If you feel that you have nothing to be grateful for, you might just need to dig a little deeper. In India, it's not uncommon to see beggars with grotesque deformities, often missing parts of their limbs, sometimes with the bone sticking out of the flesh due to lack of proper medical care. We've all heard the stories that some of these people may have been blinded or amputated by their parents or beggar-pimps to bring in more revenue. It's really a horrific reality, and many of them are in a living hell realm.

To back off from an extreme example, many other families are living in dark little huts that are probably about the size of the average bathroom in the United States, but maybe only 5 feet tall. They have no running water or electricity, and I don't even care to know what they do for a toilet. On the 10 day retreat I did at the Thai monastery in Bodhgaya last month, when I faced my aversion of cleaning toilets, which happened to be brand new, western style toilets, I also used this technique of gratitude. "Never again will I take having a decent toilet for granted." If you have a toilet that flushes, and that you can sit on, you have something to be grateful. If you can stand up in your home, you have something to be grateful for. If you don't have a home, are living on the street, but have all your limbs and your vision, you have something to be grateful for.

Just like this, we can start from the ground up, and find things to be grateful for, even in the worst of times. Okay, okay, so I know a silent meditation retreat isn't really "the worst of times," but it does allow one to understand the mind and realize that gratitude really can work in any situation. I'm sure what keeps some of these limbless beggars going is finding gratitude for a warm blanket at night, or drinking a hot chai in the morning. The old saying, "count your blessings," comes to mind. If you think you don't have any, you might actually find you have too many to count.

What this does, remembering to be grateful upon waking up, is give us something to fall back on throughout the day. What we do with our time in the first few minutes upon waking really sets the stage for the rest of the day. We can't always control the state of our mind when we wake up. It is dependent on the state of the mind upon falling asleep, and then whatever was experienced in the dream world. For me, this morning, my alarm was a real surprise. Lately, I've been waking up early, but usually, I get up before my alarm, and then drift in and out of sleep until it goes off. It makes for a nice transition from sleeping to waking. But this morning, for whatever reason, I was still dreaming when my alarm went off at 5:20, and the transition was somewhat shocking. Not only that, but the dream was a bit of a nightmare and I carried sort of a dark cloud around my mind when I pulled myself out of bed.

And then, I remembered. It was an insight I had at that retreat last month, that if I can practice gratitude within the first 5 minutes upon waking, it really paves the way for the rest of my day. Luckily, this morning, and many mornings lately, I have had the good fortune to remember this, and I watched the dark cloud over my head dissipate, and smiled. If there really is a negative attitude looming there, you probably won't defeat it just by remembering to be grateful once. It will be back, but if you know this, you can be ready for it, and keep coming back to the practice of gratitude.

Even if you feel like you are lying to yourself, just try it. This is not like generosity, where it has to have the wholesome intention of being for the benefit of others. This is really just for you, this is a way to trick your mind into happiness, and it works. Of course, if you are happier, you will treat others better also, so if you think you're being selfish, don't worry, you'll end up benefiting others by making yourself happier.

Another thing that works really well, that I used to do when I first learned about this practice, is to write down 3 things, everyday, that you are grateful for. You might find that once you get the ball rolling, choosing only 3 might be hard. Feel free to write down as many as you want, or if you do only 3, try to come up with different ones everyday. Whether you write down the things you are grateful, or if you just bring them to mind, doing it when you first wake up will allow you to snap out of any negativity that you might be carrying from the night before, and will give you a strong support network to resort to whenever it returns throughout the course of the day.

If you depend on something in the morning to snap out of the darkness, like coffee, a cigarette, food, or a hot shower, trying replacing that with the much cheaper, more eco-friendly crutch of gratitude. Instead of saying to someone, "Don't talk to me until I've had my coffee," you can say, "just give me a minute to be alone, and contemplate all the wonderful things I have to be grateful for." That way, you never have to depend on something outside of yourself for your own well-being.

May all beings realize that just by being born into this world, and having a chance to take part in the magic of life, they have something to be grateful for.

May all beings cultivate a sense of gratitude for what they have, focusing on the positive aspects of their lives to increase their own happiness.

May all beings, after using gratitude to increase their own happiness, in turn treat others with kindness, and express their gratitude for their loved ones.

Religion is a practice, not just a belief system

It seems that many people in the west stopped believing in Christianity, so they threw it out the window, and dropped all sense of a moral foundation along with it. As much as I think the cultural revolution of the 60's was a good thing, it also created a lot of confusion, a lot of lost souls. I think it's good to question things, like religious dogma, cultural norms, and societal expectations, but it's not helpful when, through questioning, there is only abandonment. The true purpose of the hippie movement was not to be free from such things, but to free the mind, to cultivate respect for all forms of life, and to live peacefully and in harmony with nature and all of the world. If you thought it was just about chasing after your desires, at the expense of others, you've got it all wrong.

I want to say that it doesn't matter what you believe. The only things that matter are what you do, how you do it, and possibly most importantly, why you do it. You can believe in God, you can believe in an afterlife, or not have any "religious" beliefs, and it really won't make a difference. What will make a difference, is what you do with your time here on earth, in this very life. If you waste it, you'll never get it back. If you use your time, energy, and resources to bring about positive changes, you will be rewarded both internally and externally. What you do has a direct influence on what happens to you. This is the law of Kamma (karma in sanskrit).

Kamma means action, so it is nothing more than cause and effect. Although in Buddhism and Hinduism, Kamma is believed to continue on, in some form or another, after this life, none of that should have any effect on what you do today. What matters is that you will, no matter what, have to face your Kamma in this life. In other words, you will pay the consequences for your actions. You will reap what you sow. Be it for better or worse, what's coming, is coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

If you think this sounds grim, maybe you are worried about what kind of seeds you've been planting. If you've done good things for others, and generally led a moral life (not me), you can rest assured that you have nothing to worry about. Yes, something tragic still may happen, Kamma doesn't necessarily protect you from getting in a car accident if you fall asleep while driving, it's not a magical force that many people believe it to be. So you can't count on it for protection, you still need to use your own good sense to keep you healthy, safe, and alive. But what you can count on is that good things you have done will come back to you, and your life will be better off for it. In this way, even if you find yourself in a less-than-desirable situation in life, doing good deeds will help. That doesn't mean it will make all your dreams come true, but it will at least bring you closer to living in peace and harmony with yourself, and with others. If nothing else, you will be closer to the "hippie dream."

For example, while traveling around Asia, I've come across many communities and families living in extreme poverty. I can't say for sure, from only catching little glimpses here and there, but some of them genuinely seem to be happy. In fact, they seem to be much happier than most people I know from the United States, people who are blessed to have more than enough to survive or maybe even leading a life of luxury. Although some of us are still caught up in the idea of the "American dream," many of us can see right through it. If I can say one good thing about the media, it has shown us, over and over again, the true suffering in the lives of the rich and the famous. All the scandals, the drama, the abuse, and the problems of these people are plastered all over the news. Whether you care about celebrity gossip or not doesn't matter, because you will probably hear about at least some of it, and that is almost a good thing, because it might just help you to stop believing that money can buy you happiness, because it can't.

So what buys happiness? In Buddhism, it's generosity. The more generous you are with your time, energy, and material goods, the happier you feel. There is a direct cause and effect relationship there (Kamma). By being generous, you generate a good feeling in your heart, even if that person doesn't do anything in return for you. So if you think Kamma means that if you give someone 5 bucks, and somehow you will be guaranteed to get that back, you have misunderstood the concept. If you give someone 5 bucks so they can use it to buy heroin, you haven't necessarily done a good deed. So generosity isn't just about what you are doing, but how you are doing it, and why. If you think what you are doing is for the best, and your intentions are pure, then you will have a good feeling in your heart when you do it. That is your reward. There might be more, but there won't be less.

Here's an example that is common in India. Everywhere you walk, especially in a place like Rishikesh, there are beggars hitting you up for money. Sometimes, they are lining the street, one right after another, so if you walk around all day, you might get hit up a hundred times for spare change. While your heart goes out to these people, some of whom may or may not be living a life of renunciation as part of their religion, you know that you can't possibly give to all of them. Besides that, some of them get in your face, and try to make it difficult to get around them. Giving money to someone just to get them out of your way probably won't give you that good feeling. I know that it's tough, because sometimes, those people might need it the most, but I usually don't give anything to them.

There is this one guy, on the other hand, that I always hook up, either with a banana, or some cash. Why? Because he has a really awesome energy about him, and even if I don't give him anything, he still smiles and greets me as I walk by. "Hare Om!" he shouts at everyone as they pass, with full enthusiasm. Maybe he's so happy because he's probably treated better than 95% of the guys working the streets, but then again, that might just be his Kamma. I know it makes me happy just to see him, and when I give him something, it makes me even happier. Now, I give to others as well, but usually to those who are at least respectful of my space. Giving money to beggars is actually a pretty cheap way to get a high, because even if you give them 1 rupee, they are usually happy, and that's only worth 2 cents. If you give them 10 rupees, which comes in a nice bill and is enough to buy something hot to eat, like 2-3 samosas, and you're only down 20 cents.

But we need to be careful here. If we are only doing good things to reap the benefits, we've forgotten that how and why we do something are also important. For example, if I just start chucking 1 rupee coins at people, which are about the size of quarters, hitting beggars in the head and making them chase rolling rupees down the street, I'm not really doing a good deed. How do I know? Because the feeling within will tell me. Sometimes, when I don't have anything to give, either literally or I'm just not in the mood, I will turn and smile at the person, as a way of acknowleding the fact that they are a living and breathing human being. If they spoke English, I'd explain, "do you have any idea how many times I've been hit up today?"

Whether or not we follow some religion is secondary to what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why. Of course, there are different beliefs about the afterlife, many that are quite imperative to the religion, but if your actions don't reflect your beliefs, maybe it's time to shift your focus. There is far too much focus on religious beliefs in the world and not enough on how we are treating each other. Our beliefs tend to separate us from one another, making us think that we are right and they are wrong, and that we are different, when in fact, it's only causes and conditions that led us to have these differences in belief in the first place. Take those causes and conditions away, or Kamma, and what we are left with is the same living, breathing, human beings. It's just like walking around either fending off beggars or filling up their cups, it's so easy to see yourself as being above them, as them being sub-human, but if you take the time to actually look into their eyes, you will have no doubt as to their innate oneness with you. That could be you, actually, if you would have been born into a different family, in a different part of the world.

So whether you believe that it is your good Kamma from past lives that gave you the opportunity to be born into a priveledged  family, like many Buddhists believe, it really doesn't matter. What matters is that you act according to what you can see and know from your own experiences in this very life. Have your beliefs, or don't, it really doesn't matter. The only that matters is what you are doing, how, and why. If your beliefs support you to do good things, we can see the value in them. If you think having beliefs is enough and you don't need to do anything else, you might as well just get rid of them and start from the ground up. There's too many people doing terrible things in the name of their beliefs to think that beliefs, on their own, are a good thing.

Too often, we confuse our religious beliefs with a sense of identity, and forget that the purpose of religion is to lead our actions in wholesome directions. "I'm a Christian," "I'm a Buddhist," or "I'm a Muslim," are the common responses you will find. There's nothing wrong with saying this, but deep down, you should understand that what's important is to say, "I practice being a virtuous Christian, Buddhist, or Muslim." If you can't say that, you shouldn't say anything. Calling yourself this or that and then doing things to hurt others is hypocrisy. If you don't subscribe to a particular belief, like many in the west, that's perfectly fine too, but check to see that you didn't also throw out your moral backbone, or that your parents didn't, when they gave up the religion of their ancestors. If you are strong enough to lead yourself in wholesome directions without a religion, maybe you don't need one, I can't say. What I do know is that having one has helped me, and not in the sense that I think it's going to save me in the afterlife, but that it gives me something to practice, here and now, and I can see how my life is improving because of that.

I'll also say that trying to lead a virtuous life is somewhat of a new venture for me, hence my being compelled to write this. It was never something I cared about until recently, and I'm finding that I was living so far from it, that now, it is proving to be a difficult thing to do, and that is because of my past Kamma. I used to do things I'm not proud of, and I admit I've hurt many people, so trying to change overnight is impossible. If I could have maintained some practice of morality after I stopped believing in Christian dogma, I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, not to mention the people I ended up hurting. The problem was, I got the two mixed up. I figured, without a religion, everything is fair game, there are no rules. I think this is the common understanding of the youth in America today. But regardless of belief, that feeling within will be there to guide us, and I got all-too-good at ignoring it. Now, there are things I can never take back, but as for today, I will do my best to pay attention that inner guidance and allow it to lead me to a life of virtue.

May all beings connect with that place within that affirms wholesome deeds.

May all beings see that what they do, how they do it, and why they do it, is more important than any sort of religious, spiritual, or atheistic beliefs.

May all beings see that regardless of differences in religion, race, and beliefs, we are all in this together, and act accordingly.

OSHO's Dynamic Meditation: A Wild & Wacky Ride

Osho, or Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, was quite a controversial spiritual teacher from India, and many of you might know a bit about him. I personally don't know much of anything, except his reputation for having a ridiculous number of Rolls Royce cars and being known as the "sex guru." I don't care much about reputations, but I am interested in learning various techniques, especially those that have had impacted many lives in reportedly positive ways. Here in Rishikesh, there are a few places that offer Osho meditations, so I just had to go see what the deal was.

This morning, I went one of the centers for a drop-in class, which happend to be the "Dynamic Meditation." He has a wide range of meditations, all with specific names, purposes, and forms. This particular meditation is quite unlike anything I've ever seen, but I have encountered a couple practices that have some similarities, so it wasn't necessarily a new feeling for me.

So what is the Dynamic Meditation?

Haha, wow, the dynamic meditation is many things. Some words that come to mind are exhausting, ridiculous, intense, whacky, liberating, and refreshing. If there was a camera on me the entire time, most of my friends would probably never talk to me again. The routine is broken down in 5 parts, all done standing up, with the eyes closed, and followed by a short resting period lying on the ground to finish it off.

Part 1: Forceful Breathing Convulsions, 10 minutes

Music is played, and you are instructed to breathe forcefully and sort of shake your torso along with the exhalations that is barely shy of being defined as hyper-ventilating. The arms are raised and the elbows kept in, and there is somewhat of a chicken-flapping motion to accompany the breath. The idea here, as the teacher put it, is "to get the breath out." Somewhat similar to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Sudarshan Kriya, another trademarked technique from a big Indian guru, this technique of intense breathing will not only get the breath out, but it will also sort of loosen up whatever is lying dormant within. In today's meditation and in the Art of Living class where I learned Sudarshan Kriya, the instructions were to just allow anything to come up, not resisting or holding on.

Part 2: Scream, shout, twist about, 10 minutes

In this second part, also with a music track, one is instructed to "do whatever comes, without holding back." Basically, it was 10 mintes of complete nonsense and mayhem, but it was pretty fun. With the eyes closed, and standing, you can flail about, scream at the top of your lungs, laugh uncontrollaby, shake your body, kick and punch the air, or literally do whatever you want. The girl behind me was screaming like she was being brutally murdered for 10 minutes. Somewhat disturbing, but I just did my best to deal with myself.

I found myself speaking jibberish, yelling in different voices, shaking myself, making barking noises and other animal noises, making noises that resembled Native American or tribal chanting, and just basically flailing my arms and legs and torso about in a semi-chaotic frenzy of release. I did something somewhat similar to this in the first "spiritual" course I ever did, called the More to Life Program. The main difference, if I remember correctly, is that the release excercise in the More to Life Program was directed toward a certain person with whom you've been holding some resentment towards, and in Osho's Dynamic Meditation, it was just a complete free-for-all.

Part 3: Intense jumping up and down on the toes, 15 minutes

This part was insanely hard, and you must know that there are absolutely no breaks in between the sessions. I was giving it everything I had in Part 1 and Part 2, so by the time Part 3 came around, I was pretty good and tired already. In this exercise, you jump up and down on your toes, and keep your arms above your head, pointing straight up. Oh, and of course, you keep your eyes closed. Just on it's own, it's definitely a bit of a challenge to not fall over from imbalance or exhaustion. The other part, another emphasis on the breath, is to push out an "Oh" sound everytime your toes touch the floor. Again, it's a forceful release, so as you are jumping, you are yelling, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." Think of a baboon, trying to get his bananas back. Oh, and there is a nice musical track to accompany this one, too.

Part 4: Freeze, 15 minutes

Don't move, just stay perfectly still, and feel the rivers of sweat coming out of every pore of your body. The music stops, and you are instructed to "just be the witness." It was quite a relief to finally have a break from the convulsing, heavy breathing, shouting, and jumping up and down. Usually, it would be difficult to stand completely still for 15 minutes, but it was actually really easy. I felt like I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be feeling something in particular, like a certain level of consciousness, so I noticed my mind questioning a bit. That, and I found myself drifting off into a "normal" thinking process before I'd bring it back to try to "be the witness." While there was a certain level of clarity there, it wasn't anything unusual or overly amazing. If anything, I felt things were a bit more calm and steady than before the practice had begun, perhaps equivalent to my normal meditation practice.

Part 5: Free-form movement and dancing, 15 minutes

 In this part, the music came back on, and we were invited to celebrate and move our bodies however we wanted. Basically, it was a little dance party, but with the eyes still closed. Actually, I'm not completely positive we were supposed to have our eyes closed for this one too, but I kept mine shut. This was another familiar exercise for me, as I participated in quite a few "ecstatic dance jams" while living in Durango, Colorado last year. You can think of this as an opportunity to creatively express the moment, and it is quite liberating indeed. Getting rid of any self-conscious ideas of what you are "supposed to be doing," you just sort of let the music move you in any way that comes naturally.

These sort of intuitive/ecstatic dance jams are offered in many places, often in yoga studios, and I highly recommend doing one, if you haven't already. There can be a mixture of a lot of energy and a lot of stillness, and you might just bust out some dance moves you never knew you had. In a way, the movements that come out aren't coming from "us," they aren't pre-conceived. They are interpreted from the music, from the moment, and you get the beautiful opportunity to watch yourself. If you don't know what it's like to "be the witness," put on some new-age or world music, go into your room by yourself, and just let yourself go. If someone is watching, it makes it much harder to let go, but if you are alone, or in a room full of people with their eyes closed, you find that you really don't care what you look like, and the results can be a very natural way of dancing.

Final Relaxation:

In the final few minutes, we were invited to lie down on our backs and just be. If you've done yoga before, you can think of Shavasana, the corpse-pose, that is always done at the end of a class.

Conclusion:

I must say, I still feel pretty damn good from my meditation this morning, and I'm sure that this Dynamic Meditation that Osho developed does have the ability to do wonderful things for people. Even though it was exhausting at times, and one hell of a work-out, I felt rejuvenated, refreshed, and energized when I walked out. In my opinion, this type of meditation is best for people who haven't already gone deep into their inner-being, who are holding on to things from the past that are keeping them choked up inside. I would be willing to bet that many people experience a wide range of emotions during this practice and most certainly shed some tears during Part 3's manic release-fest. One thing that I've found from past work I've done, is that when you release something, it usually doesn't come back. Since I've already done practices that have released things that I've held onto, and yes, shed a few tears along the way, I wasn't blown away by Osho's Dynamic Meditation. As I said before, there was no new feeling there for me. If I hadn't ever taken the time, through breathing exercises, Sudarshan Kriya, the More to Life Program, ecstatic/interpretive dance jams, and Vipassana meditation, I could imagine that the Dynamic Meditation could be life-changing.

Another thing about it is that for some, who aren't keen on the idea of sitting in silence for long hours, this might be a way of practicing "meditation" and indirectly dealing with some of their issues. I'm sure many people that fit into this category have no idea what hits them. But for me, there is no substitute to sitting with yourself in silence, bearing witness to all that arises from within. If you sit long enough, it will all come up, and there is no music, dancing, or shouting to distract you, just the sensations, emotions, and feelings. Of course, as we continue to create more and more of this karma, we need to keep practicing something as a way of letting go if it. Otherwise, it just builds up and builds up and then, snap, we explode.

So if you ask me if I'll do another Dynamic Meditation, I'm not sure. I probably won't jump at the opportunity, but if I feel like I really need it, or am in the right mood to get a little crazy, I'd probably go for it again. That being said, Osho developed a wide range of "meditation" practices (I think the term is used loosely here), so I'd surely like to try out some more.

Keeping in mind that when it comes to the practice of liberation, there is "something for everyone," so we can look past Osho's reputation and accept the validity of this practice. It's not quite my style, but at the same time, it felt pretty damn good. If you have the opportunity to try it, with an experienced teacher, I'd say go for it, the only thing you have to lose is maybe some body-weight and any other extra baggage that you might be carrying around.

May all beings keep an open mind, not letting things like self-consciousness, reputation, and fear get in the way of exploration and liberation.

May all beings see that even though something might not be a good fit for them, it might be perfect for someone else.

May all beings cultivate an attitude of curiosity that will lead them to find their own path and ultimately lead to inner peace, wisdom, and compassion.

Why I got kicked out of the ashram...

Haha, yeah, it happened, I was asked to leave the ashram that I had been staying at for the first 10 days of my stay here in Rishikesh. I don't think I'm banned, or not welcome back, but for the time being, I had to find another place to stay. In this article, I want to explore a bit in regards to what may have led to me getting kicked out of Parmath Niketan, the largest ashram in Rishikesh, India.

Shortly after I dropped out of the yoga teacher training program in Goa, I started looking for another course to join. I did quite a bit of research, and the decision was tough, but eventually, I made a decision. I decided to join the upcoming program at Parmath, due to their serene environment, which is set on the Ganges River on 8 acres of a landscaped campus complete with a huge 3 storey yoga hall, pathways lined with flowers, and an unobstructed view of the mountains. For me, this is what I had in mind when I thought about what an ashram "should be," and I figured it would be the perfect place to do a teacher training course (TTC). Of course, in hindsight, I realize how stupid it is to have these ideas about what should and shouldn't be, but we have to admit, we usually have them anyways.

I found the course on their website, but there weren't very many details regarding what one could expect. Given that the ashram has such a big presence in Rishikesh, I figured they would only put on a top-notch program. What I didn't fully understand, was that it wasn't them who was putting on the course. It was another group, SVYASA, coming from Bangalore, and Parmath was just providing the space. SVYASA, which is basically a yoga university, devoted to the teachings of the late Swami Vivekananda, is somewhat of a mix between a traditional approach to yoga and a scientific understanding of it. They have research facilities, laboratories, and run testing to determine the benefits of certain postures and practices in order to get a better understanding of the ancient wisdom of yoga.

I sort of wanted a more traditional approach, something that would give me an understanding of the 8 limbs of yoga, of which Asana (the physical postures), is only one of and by no means the most important. I already had some basic understanding, but really wanted a TTC experience that would allow that understanding to deepen. Even though I wanted a broad education, I still wanted the asana instruction to be strong and allow me to fine-tune my practice in order to prevent injury, keep myself in shape, and maybe someday even teach. Teaching isn't my main intention, but I figure that by diving in now, I can secure this as a life-long practice and see where it takes me.

What I found though, is that the teachers from SVYASA were very weak in asana, and lacked an authority in their teaching style that made me doubt their expertise. Not only that, but they could not speak English well, and were not able to understand many of the questions posed by students. On the first day, before I had payed for the course, a lot of doubt was arising. Do I really want to pay that much money to these two teachers, who are not at all the living embodiment of yoga, to train me for the next month? The answer was not hard to find, no! So, for the second time, I walked out of my yoga teacher training course in India, and I tell you what, what a relief! Since then, I've been taking different classes around town, and will continue to do so before I go up to Dharamsala for my 3rd and final attempt at taking a TTC. If I strike out again, I'm going back to Thailand, deeming it the wrong time to do a course, and I will look back fondly on all my amazing adventures here in India.

So when I told them that I didn't want to take the course, the teachers were very defensive, and couldn't understand my concerns. I had to then tell the people at the front desk of the ashram, and they said, "Okay, are you leaving?" I told them I didn't know what I was going to do, and the more I thought about it, I just figured I'd keep my room at the ashram and keep doing yoga around town for a while until I found another course. So I stayed for 1 more night, and when I walked past the office on my way to the dining hall the next day, one of the guys stopped me, and asked a bit rudely, "So you leaving today?"

"Hadn't planned on it," I told him.

"Okay, you leave tomorrow then," he ordered firmly.

I asked him if I could stay a bit longer, to figure out what I would do next, but he wasn't having it.

"We have another group coming, they need your room."
"But I have this room reserved for the next 5 weeks!"
"Your reservation only for course. No course, no room."

Hmm, that's funny, I thought, as there are many people staying there that are not participating in a course. That and I had such a great relationship with the staff there up until I backed out of the TTC. So just like that, I was asked to leave, but that's okay, I don't hold it against them, and can sort of understand why, but don't totally agree.

In my opinion, Parmath Niketan would do well to be sure that any groups coming in to run courses at their ashram are providing the highest level of education and professionalism as possible, and to know that they are being represented by any such groups. I think if some of the people at that ashram really knew what was going on with the TTC, they would have a conversation with SVYASA about taking measures to maintain quality and reputation.

Out of the 13 or 14 students, there were about 4 others that almost dropped out after I did, and they were very unhappy with the whole thing. One of them, who was a very experienced practitioner, had a talk with the course coordinator and he agreed to fly in a real asana yogi to make up for the weakness. As for me, I'm glad I didn't have such conversation, because the fact that they allowed such a weakness to even happen in the first place makes me lose their trust, and I have a really good feeling about the course I plan to take next month.

Besides, this gives me the opportunity to spend a couple extra weeks, taking different courses and exploring different styles of practice, before I start my 4 week intensive. Since I'm taking about 2 classes a day, I think an extra 2 weeks will really get me prepared, as everyday I spend here, I feel stronger, leaner, more focused and centered, and more excited about this life changing transformation that I am embarking on!

I also want to add that since I wrote this article, I dropped-in at one yoga studio to a teacher who was wearing SVYASA track-pants. I asked him about it, and he said that's where he trained. I was the only one that showed up, and quickly learned why, he was terrible! He was having me do things that I know aren't correct and can easily cause injury. Although he was flexible, he reflected the lack of understanding of asana that the teachers of the TTC had. In Rishikesh, yoga is everywhere, and it's not always easy to find a legit teacher. So far, I've found a few, but not right away, and I've also had quite a few that were pretty awful. Spirituality in India is big business, and so it's important to question the motives of people who are claiming to be teachers. If they don't embody the practice, it's best to say thanks and move on.

At one point, on the day I got kicked out, I was so fed up with this town that I was ready to just leave and head north to a place that isn't so over commercialized, but I'm glad I stuck around, and have now found a real gem of an ashram. The best class that I've taken now, out of 20, was taught by a Canadian teacher. Go figure! But there is a lot of interesting things going on in this town, and I almost missed out on that because of being swept away by the arising emotions that came in response to being disappointed by so many bad teachers. Again, the level of my suffering was equal to my expectations. I guess, as an outsider, when you think of coming to the birthplace of yoga to train, you have this idea of the best teachers in the world. What you find though, is that there are also hundreds of other teachers, with advertisements everywhere, and it's difficult to determine who is legit and who is just a flexible businessman. Yoga is a spiritual practice, regardless of what it has become in the west, and a yogi is someone who had devoted his or her entire life to this practice.

My time in India seems to be running out, even though I have about 5 or 6 weeks left, and so I will be careful to not get swept away by the changing mind-states that arise in response to all the craziness that is this wonderful country. It's too easy to become judgmental, and to start looking down on things that are going on here, but to do so, would be to miss the really amazing things that are happening. If I have an idea about what a place should be like, I am bound to be disappointed. If I can let go of these preconceived notions, all I an do is explore and find out what is going on. But when it comes to spirituality, I will stay on guard, careful not to let some joker take my money and give me nothing valuable in return. If you've ever been to India, you know exactly what I mean...

You are. Perfect! So why practice?

When we come to realize that who and what we really are is infinite, boundless, and perfect, we might lose our motivation to keep up a spiritual practice. Let's take a look at this view, that says that "I don't need to practice, my true nature is already unbound, so I don't need to do anything at all."

In the Buddha's teachings, known as the doctrine of the two truths, we can find an understanding of this that helps us to put things into perspective on the practical level. On the one hand, yes, we are perfect already, as we are that which is unchanging, unmoved, and one with everything in the universe. On the other hand though, we are selfish, impatient, greedy, deluded, full of anger and hatred, violent, and generally terrible, terrible people. Haha, okay, I'm joking, but we do things to hurt other people, whether intentionally or by accident, and we are far from perfect.

Can we see how these two truths exist simultaneously and are both accurate? When looking from a non-dual perspective, we can see that it's all part of who we are, and it all needs to be addressed. If we live our lives only connected to the absolute sense of reality, well, people say we've "lost touch with reality." That is because we are living in this world, and in this world, the type of reality that is generally agreed upon is the conventional sense, the sense where we have a name, a role, certain skills, and a personality.

Think about it. If you don't honor conventional reality, you wouldn't even bother to go to work or school, much less put any food in your mouth. You would discredit your name, your responsibilities, your interpersonal relationships, and you would stop taking care of yourself. Not like, "He let himself go, started drinking heavily, and got himself into trouble." Not like that, but you would literally stop showering, eating, drinking water, until you just died. Do you see this as desirable? If we don't honor the fact that this world is a part of reality, we will fall short of living a spiritual life.

On the other hand, if we don't honor Ultimate Reality, we also won't be able to have a spiritual life. In this life, called a secular life, we tend think that there is nothing more to life than building up ourselves, becoming wealthy and trying to accumulate as much as possible. We will climb over each other, chasing after the sense pleasures, and we will be lost in the world of empty attachments. We won't see the interconnectedness of all things, and we won't realize there is something within us that is deathless.

The middle way, then, lies between either extreme. It's not in complete renunciation of the world, nor is it in over-indulgence in worldy pleasures. In my own life, this has been the hardest "way" to find. Sometimes, I get lost in the idea that to wake up and be free, I need to leave the world behind. Other times, I get sucked into the temptations of the world, thinking that the true meaning of life is enjoying all that the world has to offer. The Buddha was very clear about the middle way, and I need to keep coming back to this teaching, because too often, I forget this path is even an option.

With the middle way, we honor both realities. I am perfect, but I also have this mind that is full of defilements. If my natural state, called my Buddha-nature, is pure, then I need to keep working to uncover it. It is covered up by the layers of the mind, created by the ego to keep us sucked into its games. Deep down, we all have this inherent beauty, this inherent perfection, but if that was the whole story, then what accounts for all the atrocities of the world?

Yesterday, when I went to Satsang with Mooji, I got the impression that many of his followers were holding on to Mooji as a crutch, depending on his grace for their own freedom. The message is quite seductive, that it's not necessary to spend years meditating, when we are that already.

"What we are looking for is what is looking." 

- St. Francis of Assisi

We can actually take the seeking out and what is left, is perfection. And we can go beyond that, to take ourselves out of the equation, and what is left, is already free, already unbound, already eternal.

While this is true, it can be a little misleading. The tendency is for the mind to grab onto that and then think that it has achieved something. "I'm already enlgihtened," says the mind, "I'm done." Well, well, well, wouldn't that be swell? So how do we understand this?

Again, let's go back to the two truths. Can we not see that all of this is only addressing the Ultimate sense of reality? When we are sitting in front of Mooji, collectively feeling that innate inner perfection, it seems so final, it seems like we really do understand it, and that everything will run its course when we walk out of there. But does it? Since most people got there around 9:30am, and didn't leave until 12:30pm, did we not all leave satsang and head straight for lunch? Now, you tell me, was it the innate perfection that was hungry, or was it this body, this mind, this conventional self?

The teachings of Mooji aren't flawed, but they only pertain to the realizing of who and what we are, in the sense of ultimate reality. This, in my opinion, is perhaps the most important step on any spiritual path, the step that tells us there is something more. For many, this is the first step, or one of the first steps, and it can change lives forever.

But if it isn't understood from a deep place, it might prove to just be an inspiring feeling that falls away when it's no longer supported. It's kind of like that new-age book that gets everyone fired up to change their lives, causing them to say things like, "I'm going to do this, and I'm going to change this about myself," but when they put the book down, they just go back to their lives, and the spark burns out.

We have to protect the flame, and for me, and many others, that requires persistence. Unless you want to go to Satsang with Mooji everyday, you need to support your awakening with some sort of constant reminder, or in other words, a practice. Even if that practice is just reminding yourself to take a step back from the play of everyday reality, and to connect to that unmoved place within, that is still a practice.

At one point, yesterday, Mooji said, "Some people have been meditating for 30 years, and still, they have found nothing." I might like to meet this person, and ask him or her, "What exactly have you been practicing?" The type of meditation that I do brings results within 30 minutes, if one has the right attitude.

Yes, if one is striving for results too much, they will always be separate from that which they seek. Not in the ultimate sense, in the ultimate sense, we can never be separate from anything, but in the conventional sense, you will not be connected to your natural state. But in order to connect to that natural state, some sort of effort needs to be applied, even if it's the effort of letting go. As I said in my last post, letting go isn't exactly something we do, but the absence of doing anything else. But, as it turns out, everything else is conditioned to go, go, go, and we are used to being swept away by it.

Okay, so we are getting somewhere here. We know that if we resist the mind, it gets stronger, so we don't want to try to halt its activity. Rather, we want to take a step back, let it run its course, and let go of it. By not identifying with the mind (conventional reality), what we are left with is our natural state.

Once we have stopped identifying, the effort falls away. We no longer, at this point, need to try to connect to ultimate reality, as we fall ass backwards into it. I think this absence of the need to try in this final step is what people really mean when they say, "You are perfect, you don't need to do anything." But, we still see that there is some effort required to get to that point, the effort of not identifying with the mind, because otherwise, we are conditioned to do so. So in the last step, the connecting, we see that yes, we no longer need to do anything, we are already perfect. But, up until that point, many things have to go right.

Sittting in front of Mooji, all those things that have to go right just seem effortless, but when we step out of satsang, we find that it can be quite difficult. We need to constantly remind ourselves to stop identifying, until we have created the causes and conditions for it to just happen on its own.

For me, and most of us, these causes and conditions aren't in place for my spiritual journey to be on auto-pilot yet, so I need to practice staying present, and not getting swept away by conventional reality. In order to do that, we can practice mindfulness, we can keep an eye on things. If we know that thoughts are thoughts, we will know that we are not our thoughts. If we don't know we are thinking, we are surely along for the ride, and blindfolded.

Similarly, we can find our place in this world, and continue to act according to the fact that conventional reality is still valid, and an important part of our awakening. We need to recognize that there is this body, and this body needs to eat. This body and mind conventional-combo has a name, a role, and responsibilities. Everyone is someone's child, and possibly a brother, a sister, a mother or father, an aunt or an uncle. We have to look out for ourselves and each other. We have neighbors, friends, and fellow humans that are also out there, in this with us. We are all on this journey of discovery together.

No, you might not need to have a formal meditation practice, but you still need to practice non-identification with the mind, the body and everything which is impermanent. Then, you are already perfect, you don't need to identify with your innate perfection, you can just feel it, listen to it, and live from that place of love, compassion, and creativity that is the source of all life. But again, we need to be perfectly clear that this does require you to do something. Not doing anything, would be to wither and die, and there is nothing spiritual or noble about that.

What you might find, is that having some sort of formal spiritual practice will give you the strong foundation necessary from which to spread your wings and fly. It will help you to be able to see the tricks of the mind and remember to disidentify. It will help you stay grounded in this reality, which is perhaps, the most important thing that many of Mooji's followers are missing.

By being mindful of your life, you will start to see things clearly, that this is there, and that is there, this is happening, that is happening. Then you will understand, that there are these forms, and there is the formless. The forms are not more or less important than the formless. In the world of forms, or conventional reality, there is an us, and even though it's not the whole picture, we still have to honor that we are here, on this spinning sphere, and we need to come down from the clouds long enough to keep ourselves, and others, alive.

May all beings see that there is more to life than meets the eye.

May all beings see that though the formless, infinite vastness is who and what they really are, they still have these bodies, these names, and these responsibilities to take care of themselves, this planet, and humanity as a whole.

May all beings find the middle way between these two, enabling them to not get lost in their minds, but also to not get lost in the clouds, and empowering them to bring about the changes necessary for peace, harmony, and love to rule to world.

Satsang with Mooji in Rishikesh

Who is Mooji? WHO IS MOOJI!?!?

Exactly the same question I was asking, just two days ago, when I heard the name for the first time. Now, it's hard to believe that such a great spiritual teacher could be unknown to the general public. Of course, everyone around here knows who he is, but like so many Americans, I have been living in the dark.

One thing I have noticed, from my poking around a bit, is that many of the big teachers are no longer alive, but Mooji is, and in him, there is really the sense of a living legend. Besides the whole sort of production surrounding his satsang, which means something like "coming together in truth," there was a profound depth to his presence and clarity that leaves little to the imagination as to why he is all the buzz around here. That and he has been here putting on these daily Q&A like gatherings for quite some time, really allowing everyone to get their fill. But his crowd can't seem to get enough. Many people have been going everyday and will be very sad to see his streak of satsangs ending tomorrow. As for me, I am very grateful that I heard about him just in time to go to hear him talk. I was very moved and inspired by his teachings, but I'm not sure if I'll go back tomorrow or not. I guess for me, he is somewhat of a spiritual icon, and his message is clear. If you understand the message, you don't need the messenger.

So what is his message?

Well, as a Advaita (non-dual) teacher from the Ramana Maharshi lineage, his message keeps coming back to the source. It's simple really, but yet the mind loves to grab onto it. Instead of making spirituality about some sort of achievement, some quest for liberation, he brings the listener back to that place within, that place that is unmoved. With the constant flow of life, there is some underlying awareness that remains unchanged. If we identify with the flowing elements, what happens when they go away? Surely, we don't go away with them, so we must be there, "behind the curtain of the mind," as he put it.

When the mind tries to conceptualize what that means, which if you are living and breathing, it most likely will, we can observe that movement of trying to understand, without getting lost in it. Since every satsang with Mooji, from my understanding, is just in Q&A format, many people had an opportunity to ask questions in the 2.5 hour event. Many questions were in regards to people who were concerned that sometimes, they "got it" and other times, they would "lose it." We can see the sort of concern here, that these people have, but also, we can see that this is only a problem in the mind. It's not about "getting it." If anything, it is about "being it," but even that is a bit misleading. As he said, during his closing statement, try to imagine a world with no language, and see that you are still there. Trying to put it into terms is rather silly. We need to be careful not to think "you are still there" means that there is an individual entity there, it just means that there is a space there, an emptiness, an awareness.

If there are times when we feel like we are connected to this truth, and other times that we are struggling, and times are difficult, can we see that there is only an expectation here that is creating the problem? Who says life isn't supposed to be difficult? Who says spirituality is all about roses and rainbows? No one, that's who, because it's not. If we want to be real, if we want to see things how they are, we need to muster up the courage to admit that sometimes, things are easy and peaceful, and sometimes, they aren't. It doesn't make sense to always be happy, and if we were, I think life would be boring. So when we see that our lives are like a pendulum, moving back and forth from happiness to unhappiness, from clarity to confusion, from being grounded to groundless, can we connect with that which can see this? If we observe, "Now, there is unhappiness," we can keep our sense of calm and not let the unhappiness sweep us off our feet? The same goes for happiness, falling in love, dealing with anger, or being lost in thought.

Emotions, thoughts, feelings, moods, and states of mind come and go, but we don't have to let them control us. We can, by practicing observation, stay back, just watching them pass, and seeing them for what they really are. In the Buddha's teachings, all of these things, and all other conditioned phenomenon, have three characteristics. They are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not who or what we really are. So when we get wrapped up in emotions or thoughts, we can come back to this understanding, to help us gain some perspective on the true nature of whatever it is we are experiencing. Most likely, without this perspective, we will find a belief that these phenomenon are us.

What it all boils down to is the problem of identity. We think we are something other than what we really are, so we continue to find resistance. To let go, as it turns out, is not something you can really strive to do, it has to be the absence of all striving. There are so many traditions and teachings out there offering detailed descriptions on how to let go, but we have to be careful to not let these teachings and techniques stand between us and our "natural state, as Mooji calls it. If we think it lies in the future, if we can just keep going we'll get there, we will never make it. It has to be in the realization that who and what we really are "can never go, because it never came in the first place." It is eternal, it is without limits, it is indescribable, it is without quality.

Rather than looking for it, or working toward it, we have to see that we are it. We have always been it, before we were born, and after we will die, it is the deathless. Now that we have that cleared up, the mind is still inclined to want to grab on to something, but if we keep watching the mind, we will see what is happening. The mind wants to create it into a view and put it into its little box and put its name on it, but there is nothing there to grab onto. Instead, we can connect with that feeling of being connected. We can see the mind's attempt to understand and not identify with its efforts. Instead, we remain unmoved, watching the play run its course. Afterall, it's all us, it's all that, it's all nothing. It's only when the mind is given too much credibility that we lose touch with the Ultimate.

As to whether or not we need to do anything, in regards to some sort of spiritual practice, in order to stay connected to our natural state, I don't know. If we need to keep observing in order to not be taken for a ride by the mind, it seems helpful to do some work in order to develop the capacity to observe. Otherwise, like some, you will need to go to Satsang with Mooji over, and over, and over, in order to be reminded of what you already know. As much as I love Mooji, I don't relate to the sort of iconic guru model, which tends to leave the followers unable to see the truth for themselves. From what I could tell, many of the people there had their head so far up Mooji's ass that they would be hopeless without him.

If you can keep watching you experience as it unfolds, connecting, but not identifying, with the infinite that you already are, you don't ever need to go to Satsang with Mooji, but I would highly recommend it, just to see him, he is quite the bundle of joy, and he will make you laugh, I guarantee it.

May all beings come to see that their true nature is not separate from everything else in the Universe.

May all beings connect with this place of silence, stillness, and wisdom within themselves.

May all beings be in control of their own awakening, not relying on another for their ability to directly see and understand truth.

For more information on Mooji, who is from Jamaica and travels the world teaching, please visit: http://www.mooji.org

"Satsang is the invitation to step into the fire of self-discovery. This fire will not burn you, it will burn only what you are not." - Mooji