Ramana instructed those who came to him to practice, whether it was inquiry or surrender (devotion). The writings of those who actually did practice instruct and inspire followers of Ramana to this day.

Sometimes I hear instruction which sounds like ‘abide as the Self’ rather than ‘Ask for whom is this?’ and ‘Who am I?’ and I am concerned that the opportunity to inquire and investigate who you actually are (and are not) seems to be missed.

To me, this investigation of my own identity is the key element, and practice is what reveals it.

Email me at richard@infinitepie.net before you come next time.

Om Arunachala,
Richard

It was interesting reading your experience. I have never done the pradakshina on a full moon night and it has always been on some other day or during a “New Moon” day !

I come often to Ramanasram and would be very eager to meet with you and learn from your experiences if you would let me.

Best wishes and regards, Ramesh

Verizon’s 6700 is buggy as all get up. And they released that almost 1/2 a year after Sprint did.

Somehow, Verizon’s testing equates to a release 1/2 to more than a year later than other companies. With the result of uber-buggy phones.

So what’s the point. The truth of the matter is that Verizon’s testing and our testing is two different things.

You and I want the phone company to test that the phone works, isn’t buggy and does what it’s supposed. And having a decent interface (ie: not require 7 clicks to close a program).

Verizon’s idea of testing is how to ensure that you the user can’t by-pass their system. Can’t use features that might compete with their offerings, etc.

And yes, we’re all sick of it.

You posted an excellent essay. When I first got into Kundalini Yoga some 30 years ago, I thought much the same thing, regarding the close relationship between Tantra and Kundalini, as well as the Chinese Tradition of Qi or Chi. And I recognized the somewhat opposite traditions of Vedanta or Jnana Yoga. Iā€™m glad to see that someone else has been thinking along those very same lines.

But there are several things that I might add, coming from my practical experience with the Kundalini. First, it is not necessarily a linear process ā€“ starting from the bottom before one can go to the top. Indeed, in many of the Shaktipat Traditions, where the Kundalini Energy is passed along by a Guru to the new Initiate, it is easier to simply open the Forehead Chakra. Yes, without all the lower chakras below being open, as well as the entire central channel, the effects wonā€™t be quite so spectacular, but neither will they have the danger involved that we often hear about regarding the Kundalini practice.

Secondly, while it is easiest to acquire an initiation from a Shaktipat Guru, from whatever branch or school, it really isnā€™t necessary. I once read in a translation of one of the Upanishads that ā€œin the presence of a God or Saint, the Agna Chakra will blossomā€. Well, it does. If it opens in a very big way, by the concentrated efforts of a very good Guru, one will experience a certain amount of bliss and light. But if one simply walks into the same room as a person who already has their Agna Chakra open, then one will feel a slight pressure in oneā€™s own Agna Chakra, that is, in oneā€™s forehead, a bit above the brows and about an inch inside the head. In most every case, where the person is not looking to feel this sensation, the sensation is dismissed as an incipient headache, and the feeling is ignored until it goes away. However, if one is searching for such an experience, and then latches onto the feeling and concentrates upon it, then the attention given to that ā€˜feelingā€™ will serve to fix it so that it may take root in oneā€™s energy system.

Of course, the Shaktipat Gurus have a great deal of experience to impart, but the problem there is that they often charge more money than is easily affordable, and so the aspiring Initiate may feel obliged to take his ā€˜Initiationā€™ for free as detailed above.

Well, once the self-made initiate feels the energy in his forehead, then how should he or she proceed? For the first few days one should concentrate on that energy spot very often. Rub the spot with oneā€™s finger. One can use the simplest and best of all ā€˜pyramid powersā€™, that is, any pointy object, ballpoint pens work the best, and point them into the chakra. Magnets are also good. Also, reading inspirational spiritual literature or poetry will serve to energize oneā€™s higher centers.

But after a week or two, the Chakra may acquire so much energy that it gives one a headache. Many unexplained migraines may indeed be this very thing. In this case, one should discontinue thinking of oneā€™s forehead and rather think it down to oneā€™s tailbone, the very bottom of oneā€™s spine. A simple visualization may help in doing this ā€“ one can take a drink of water and as the water goes down oneā€™s throat, one can imagine that the energy is going down with it, to the bottom-most tailbone. If one can leave the energy down there, then the danger of these headaches will discontinue.

To acquire greater control over this energy, then one should find the key location for just such control, that is, the swivel point at the top of the spine, inside oneā€™s head, just up and behind oneā€™s pallet. It is easy to locate that swivel point simply by swiveling oneā€™s head around and noting the point in oneā€™s head where the swiveling occurs. Then one should focus the energy in oneā€™s Forehead Chakra and visualize that energy coming back, along the roof of the mouth, to that swivel point. At first the Swivel Point will energize and feel about as large as a large grape, but it really must be focused upon until it is much smaller. It wonā€™t take long, but just only a few minutes, concentrating on the energy as though one is peeling off the layers of an onion until one is at the very central point of the Swivel Point Center. It will be as small as a housefly and you will feel it pulsating, about in time with your heartbeat. Once you can feel that, then you have the Key to your bodyā€™s energy system, and you can send the energy up to your Crown Chakra, or even up over your head to create halos for yourself, or you can direct the energy down through your body. The remarkable thing, at this point is that you become aware of your body as an energy system. Before I could do this, I was conscious only of feeling in my skin, or within my body only when there was a pain, or in certain other regions when there was some stimulated pleasure. But for the most part the volume of my body was a void in regards to sensation and feeling. But once one had gone through the Swivel Point Chakra, then one becomes aware of all of the various energy flows.

Regarding this point, once I was able to discern energy flows, I was able to develop an easy and effective exercise. I had read of Huong Poā€™s ā€˜one fingerā€™ exercise and tried to research it out, but couldnā€™t find a thing about it, but in my experiments I found that by rotating my thumbs, one clockwise, the other counter-clockwise, for only a few minutes, until they got tired, then, once the thumbs were stilled, the energy would flow into the central channel and rise up into the head.

Now, we are accustomed to hearing wonderful stories of bliss and light. Well, unfortunately, as far as I know, such experiences, for the most part, are reserved for those in deep trance, or in dreams. Once when I was dreaming, a Dream Guru told me that a few seconds of meditation in a dream was worth thousands of hours of waking meditation, and he was right. What in waking is felt as a slight pressure will be experienced in a dream as Bliss and Light. It is as though the sensations of the waking self and the dream self are placed along a continuum, with the Dream Self being much more sensitive to those things. And so it is that one should encourage oneself to do oneā€™s meditations during oneā€™s dreaming. Every morning when one wakes up, if one did not meditate during oneā€™s dreams, then it is sufficient to simply note that one regrets the fact and to take a moment to resolve that one will remember to meditate the next time one is dreaming. Eventually it will have its effect, and one will have a dream of blissful meditation with white light and all that. Now, remember that this is not all imagination, and that dreams are more collective than many materialists would wish to admit, and that oneā€™s dreams, no matter how well planned, will come with surprises from some Higher Source.

Oh, and this reminds me of a dream I had in which my deceased father came to me and showed me a spiritual trick, that if one hisses out oneā€™s breath, making what one supposes is a noise very similar to the ā€˜white noiseā€™ sound, then what in fact happens is that oneā€™s brain lights up with the actual spiritual White Light. If one is sensitive to such things, then it also works during oneā€™s daily meditations, though instead of feeling the White Light, one simply feels the sensation throughout oneā€™s cranium.

Well, that should be enough for now.

thank you