Six Powerful Breathing Meditations

Introduction to Pranayama
an introduction to the practice of merging with prana (2:54)
Accessing the divine presence within through the art of breathing

Ujjaya Pranayama
Ocean Sounding or Victorious Breath (6:42)

This technique helps in lengthening the breath, calming the mind,
heating the body, and opening the heart.
Here the connection to the pranic tube
also kown as the chakra column is established.
Through this connection a balance between heaven and earth is found.

Dirgha Rechak Pranayama
Long Exhaling Breath (5:16)

This technique strengthens the flow of prana, digestion, lungs, and mind.
The gift of Dirgha Rechak Pranayama is the ability to surrender,
let go, and be at ease.

Dirgha Purak Pranayama
Long Inhaling Breath (9:15)

This technique is the compliment to Dirgha Rechak with the same benefits.
The gift of Dirgha Purak Pranayama is a sense of acceptance,
receiving, and fullness of life.

Nadishodhana Pranayama
Alternate Nostril Breath (9:15)

This technique balances the polarities of the body and mind.
The right and left hemispheres of the brain are harmonized,
creating a profound gentle balance of all systems
allowing access to the true divine presence.

Kriya Pranayama
Awareness or Cleansing Breath (6:57)

This technique cleans and opens the chakra column
so prana may flow harmoniously throughout.
Kriya pranayama is the practice of bringing
the awareness to the base of the spine
and drawing it upward to the mid brain.
An inner cleansing occurs as the awareness moves
from the lower centers to the higher One self.

Prema Dhyana
Compassion Meditation (19:15)

A profoundly relaxing meditation done in Sivasana,
lying down on your back, opening all the subtle nadis
for an awakening of the heart.  This flowering of the heart
creates waves of compassionate love within.

Set to original composition of
crystal bowls, bells, flutes, & percussion
composed & performed by Darius Kaufmann

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You can do this exercise at any time, whenever you feel fear.

For best results, it is best to do it in a quiet and private space and
working through a list of fears you have written beforehand.

Sit or lie down comfortably with your back straight and close your eyes.

Breathe in deeply and slowly into your abdomen, then breathe out as fast as you can.

Repeat, breathe in slowly, then out as fast as you can.

And once more, breathe in slowly and slowly, then out fast.

Now continue breathing at your own pace.

Scan your physical body from head to toe, to find the energy of fear.

Look for fear. If you cannot find it,
read one of your fear items in your list and scan your body again.

Once you find fear in your body, simply look at it.

Don’t analyze it, just look at it.

Allow it to be there.

Allow it to exist.

Allow it to grow and to be.

It could be a physical discomfort, such as a knot, a pain, a location of energy,
or through a thought or memory, or it could be just the emotion of fear.

Just look at it.

Observe it.

Feel it.

Allow it to be here.

And say, “fear, you are welcome here.”

Welcome here.

Welcome fear and allow it to grow.

Let it get bigger and bigger.

Allow it to grow, and grow… as big as it can go

Let it be as big as it can possibly get.

Allow it to express itself to you.

But don’t analyze.

Simply allow whatever comes.

Whether words, thoughts, memories,

Follow it if it changes into another emotion, or changes locations in your body.

Whatever it does, welcome the new expression. “you are welcome here,

thought…you are welcome here emotion,

words, memories, you are welcome here fear.”

You are welcome here.

Watch it. Observe it.

Now, allow yourself to get closer and embrace fear in whatever expression it has chosen.

Give it light and love, and allow it to exist.

Thank it for whatever job it had for you, for being with you for so long.

Now, release it into Oneness. Allow it to go free back into Source.

Breathe deeply now.

As you breathe in, breathe in light and love.

And as you breathe out, allow that light and love
to go to and fill the space where fear used to be.

Now, simply breathe deeply and slowly.

Breathing in light and love, and as you breathe out,

allow that light and love to expand
throughout your body and out into your environment.

Now, scan your body from your toes to your head

and see if there is any of that fear left.
If so, repeat the exercise straight away.

If not, you can use your list to repeat the exercise,
or end now by opening your eyes and having a good stretch.

Repeat this exercise every day until there is no more fear in your life.

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Yoga and Hawaiian wisdom
remembering the ancient ways of impeccable joy 

~~~

With great gratitude for the yogis who have walked before us
and the beauty and mana from the islands of Hawaii

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by Mellen-Thomas Benedict

In 1982 I died from terminal cancer.  The condition I had was inoperable,and any kind of chemotherapy they could give me would just have made me more of a vegetable.  I was given six to eight months to live. I had been an information freak in the 1970s, and I had become increasingly despondent over the nuclear crisis, the ecology crisis, and so forth.  So, since I did not have a spiritual basis, I began to believe that nature had made a mistake and that we were probably a cancerous organism on the planet.  I saw no way that we could get out from all the problems we had created for ourselves and the planet.I perceived all humans as cancer—and that is what I got.  That is what killed me.  Be careful what your world view is. It can feed back on you, especially if it is a negative world view.  I had a seriously negative one. That is what led me into my death. I tried all sorts of alternative healing methods, but nothing helped.

So I determined that this was really just between me and God.  I had never really faced God before or even dealt with God.  I was not into any kind of spirituality at the time, but I began a journey into learning about spirituality and alternative healing.  I set out to do all the reading I could and bone up on the subject, because I did not want to be surprised on the other side.  So I started reading on  various religions and philosophies.  They were all very interesting and  gave hope that there was something on the other side.

I ended up in hospice care.  I remember waking up one morning at home about 4:30 AM, and I just knew that this was it.  This was the day I was going to die.  So I called a few friends and said goodbye. I woke up my hospice caretaker and told her.  I had a private agreement with her that she would leave my dead body alone for six hours, since I had read that all kinds of interesting things happen when you die. I went back to sleep.  The next thing I remember is the beginning of a typical near-death experience.  Suddenly I was fully aware and I was standing up but my body was in the bed.  There was this darkness around me. Being out of my body was even more vivid than ordinary experience.  It was so vivid that I could see every room in the house.  I could see the top of the house,
I could see around the house, I could see under the house.

There was this Light shining.  I turned toward the Light. The Light was very similar to what many other people have described in their near-death experiences.  It was so magnificent.  It is tangible; you can feel it.  It is alluring; you want to go to it like you would want to go to your ideal mother’s or father’s arms.

As I began to move toward the Light, I knew intuitively that if I went to the Light, I would be dead.  So as I was moving toward the Light I said, “Please wait a minute; just hold on a second here.  I want to think about this.  I would like to talk to you before I go.” To my surprise, the entire experience halted at that point.  You are in control of your life-after-death experience.  You are not on a roller coaster ride.

So my request was honored, and I had some conversations with the Light. The Light kept changing into different figures, like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, mandalas, archetypal images and signs.  I asked the Light, “What is going on here? Please, Light,  clarify yourself for me.  I really want to know the reality of the situation.” I cannot really say the exact words, because it was sort of telepathy.

The Light responded.  The information transferred to me was that during your life-after- death experience your beliefs shape the kind of feedback you are getting before the Light.  If you were a Buddhist or Catholic or Fundamentalist, you get a feedback loop of your own stuff.  You have a chance to look at it and examine it, but most people do not.  As the Light revealed itself to me, I became aware that what I was really seeing was our Higher Self matrix.

We all have a Higher Self, or an oversoul part of our being. It revealed itself to me in its truest energy form. The only way I can really describe it is that the Being of the Higher Self is more like a conduit.
It did not look like that, but it is a direct connection to the Source that each and every one of us have.  We are directly connected to the Source.  So the Light was showing me the Higher Self matrix. I was not committed to one particular religion.  So that is what was being fed back to me during my life-after-death experience.

As I asked the Light to keep clearing for me, to keep explaining, I understood what the Higher Self matrix is.  We have a grid around the planet where all the Higher Selves are connected.  This is like a great company, a next subtle level of energy around us, the spirit level, you might say.  Then, after a couple of minutes, I asked for more clarification.  I really wanted to know what the Universe is about, and I was ready to go at that time. I said, “I am ready, take me.”

Then the Light turned into the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen:  a mandala of human souls on this planet.  Now I came to this with my negative view of what was happening on the planet.  So as I asked the Light to keep clarifying for me, I saw in this magnificent mandala how beautiful we all are in our essence, our core. We are the most beautiful creations.

The human soul, the human matrix that we all make together, is absolutely fantastic, elegant, exotic, everything.  I just cannot say enough about how it changed my opinion of human Beings in that instant.  I said, “Oh, God, I did not know how beautiful we are.” At any level, high or low, in whatever shape you are in,you are the most beautiful creation.

The revelations coming from the Light  seemed to go on and on. Then I asked the Light, “Does this mean that Mankind will be saved?” Then,like a trumpet blast with a shower of spiraling lights, the Great Light spoke, saying, “Remember this and never forget;  you save, redeem and heal yourself. You always have.  You always will.  You were created with the power to do so from before the beginning of the world.”

In that instant I realized even more. I realized that WE HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED, and we saved ourselves because we were designed to self-correct like the rest of God’s Universe.  This is what the second coming is about.  I thanked the Light of God with all my heart.  The best thing I could come up with was these simple words of total appreciation: “Oh dear God, dear Universe, dear Great Self, I Love My Life.”

The Light seemed to breathe me in even more deeply.  It was as if the Light was completely absorbing me.  The Love Light is, to this day, last and became aware of something more, much more.  It was an enormous stream of Light, vast and full, deep in the Heart of Life. I asked what this was.

The Light responded, “This is the RIVER OF LIFE. Drink of this manna water to your heart’s content.”   So I did. I took one big drink and then another.  To drink of Life Itself!  I was in ecstasy.  Then the Light said, “You have a desire.” The Light knew all about me, everything past, present and future. “Yes!” I whispered. beyond all human illusion. The Light then told me that I could go with the Stream.
I did, and was carried through the Light at the end of the tunnel.  I felt and heard a series of very soft sonic booms.  What a rush!

Suddenly I seemed to be rocketing away from the planet on this stream of Life. I saw the Earth fly away.  The solar system, in all its splendor, whizzed by and disappeared. At faster than light speed, I flew through the center of the Galaxy, absorbing more knowledge as I went.  I learned that this Galaxy, and all of the Universe, is bursting with many different varieties of LIFE.  I saw many worlds.
The good news is that we are not alone in this Universe!

As I rode this stream of consciousness through the center of the Galaxy, the stream was expanding in awesome fractal waves of energy.  The super clusters of Galaxies with all their ancient wisdom flew by.
At first I thought I was going somewhere, actually traveling.  But then I realized that as the stream was expanding, my own consciousness was also expanding to take in everything in the Universe! All creation passed by me.  It was an unimaginable wonder! I truly was a Wonder Child; a babe in Wonderland!

At this point, I found myself in a profound stillness, beyond all silence. I could see or perceive FOREVER, beyond Infinity.  I was in the Void.  I was in pre-creation, before the Big Bang.
I had crossed over the beginning of time/the First Word/the First Vibration.  I was in the Eye of Creation.  I felt as if I was touching the Face of God.  It was not a religious feeling.  Simply, I was at one with Absolute Life and Consciousness.

When I say that I could see or perceive forever, I mean that I could experience all of creation generating itself. It was without beginning and without end.  That is a mind expanding thought, isn’t it?  Scientists perceive the Big Bang as a single event which created the Universe.  I saw during my life-after- death experience that the Big Bang is only one of an infinite number of Big Bangs creating Universes endlessly and simultaneously.  The only images that even come close in human terms would be those created by super computers using fractal geometry equations.

The ancients knew of this.  They said God had periodically created new Universes by breathing out and recreated other Universes by breathing in. These epochs were called Yugas. Modern science called this the Big Bang.  I was in absolute, pure consciousness. I could see or perceive all the Big Bangs or Yugas creating and recreating themselves.  Instantly I entered into them all simultaneously.  I saw that each and every little piece of creation has the power to create.  It is very difficult to try to explain this.  I am still speechless about this.

It took me years after I returned from my near-death experience to  assimilate any words at all for the Void experience.  I can tell you this now: the Void is less than nothing, yet more than everything that is!  The Void is absolute zero, chaos forming all possibilities. It is Absolute Consciousness, much more than even Universal Intelligence.  The Void is the vacuum or nothingness between all physical manifestations.  It is the SPACE between atoms and their components.

Modern science has begun to study this space between everything. They call it Zero point.  Whenever they try to measure it, their instruments go off the scale, or to infinity, so to speak. They have no way, as of yet, to measure infinity accurately.  There is more of the zero space in your own body and the Universe than anything else!  What mystics call the Void is not a void. It is so full of energy, a different kind of energy that has created everything that we are.

Everything since the Big Bang is vibration, from the first Word, which is the first vibration.  The biblical “I AM” really has a question mark after it. “I AM—What am I?” So creation is God exploring God’s Self through every way imaginable, in an on-going, infinite exploration through every one of us.  I began to see during my near-death experience that everything that is, is the Self, literally your Self,my Self.  Everything is the great Self.  That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the Universe.  Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the Universe.  There is God in that, and God in the Void.

As I was exploring the Void during my life-after- death experience and all the Yugas or creations, I was completely out of time and space as we know it.  In this expanded state, I discovered that creation is about Absolute Pure Consciousness, or God, coming into the Experience of Life as we know it.  The Void itself is devoid of experience. It is pre life, before the first vibration.  Godhead is about more than Life and Death. Therefore there is even more than Life and Death to experience in the Universe!

When I realized this, I was finished with the Void and wanted to return to this creation, or Yuga.
It just seemed like the natural thing to do. Then I suddenly came back through the second Light,
or the Big Bang, hearing several more velvet booms.  I rode the stream of consciousness back through all of creation, and what a ride it was!  The super clusters of Galaxies came through me with even more insights.  I passed through the center of our Galaxy, which is a black hole.  Black holes are the great processors or recyclers of the Universe. Do you know what is on the other side of a black hole?  We are; our Galaxy, which has been reprocessed from another Universe.  In its total  energy configuration, the Galaxy looked like a fantastic city of lights… All energy this side of the Big Bang is Light.

Every sub atom, atom, star, planet, even consciousness itself is made of Light and has a frequency and/or particle.  Light is living stuff.  Everything is made of Light, even stones.  So everything is alive.
Everything is made from the Light of God; everything is very intelligent.

As I rode the stream on and on, I could eventually see a huge Light coming. I knew it was the First Light; the Higher Self Light Matrix of our Solar System.  Then the entire Solar System appeared in the Light, accompanied by one of those velvet booms.  I could see all the energy that this Solar System generates, and it is an incredible Light show!  I could hear the Music of the Spheres.  Our Solar System, as do all celestial bodies, generates a unique matrix of light, sound and vibratory energies.
Advanced civilizations from other star systems can spot Life as we know it in the Universe by the vibratory or energy matrix imprint.  It is child’s play. The Earth’s wonder child (Human Beings)
make an abundance of sound right now, like children playing in the backyard of the Universe.

The Light explained to me that there is no death; we are immortal Beings.  We have already been alive forever!  I realized that we are part of a natural living system that recycles itself endlessly.  I was never told that I had to come back.  I just knew that I would. It was only natural, from what I had seen during my life-after-death experience.

I don’t know how long I was with the Light, in human time.  But there came a moment when I realized that all my questions had been answered and my return was near.  When I say that all my questions were answered on the other side, I mean to say just that.  All my questions have been answered.
Every human has a different life and set of questions to explore. Some of our questions are universal,
but each of us is exploring this thing we call Life in our own unique way. So is every other form of life, from mountains to every leaf on every tree.  That is very important to the rest of us in this Universe.  Because it all contributes to the Big Picture, the fullness of Life.  We are literally God exploring God’s Self in an infinite Dance of Life. Your uniqueness enhances all of Life.

As I began my return to the life cycle, it never crossed my mind, nor was I told, that I would return to the same body.  It just did not matter.  I had complete trust in the Light and the Life process. As the stream merged with the great Light, I asked never to forget the revelations and the feelings of what I had learned on the other side.  There was a “Yes.” It felt like a kiss to my soul.

Then I was taken back through the Light into the vibratory realm again.  The whole process reversed, with even more information being given to me.  I came back home, and I was given lessons from my  near-death experience on the mechanics of reincarnation.  I was given answers to all those little questions I had:  “How does this work? How does that work?”  I knew I would be reincarnated.

The Earth is a great processor of energy, and individual consciousness evolves out of that into each one of us.  I thought of myself as a human for the first time, and I was happy to be that.  From what I have seen, I would be happy to be an atom in this Universe.  An atom.  So to be the human part of God—this is the most fantastic blessing. It is a blessing beyond our wildest estimation of what a blessing can be. For each and every one of us to be the human part of this experience is awesome and magnificent.  Each and every one of us, no matter where we are, screwed up or not, is a blessing to the planet, right where we are.

I went through the reincarnation process expecting to be a baby somewhere.  But I was given a lesson on how individual identity and consciousness evolve.  I was so surprised when I opened my eyes. I do not know why, because I understood it, but it was still such a surprise to be back in this body, back in my room with someone looking over me, crying her eyes out.  It was my hospice caretaker.  She had given up an hour and a half after finding me dead.  My body was stiff and inflexible.  She went into the other room.  Then I awakened and saw the light outside.  I tried to get up to go to it, but I fell out of bed.  She hear a loud “clunk”, ran in and found me on the floor.  When I recovered, I was very surprised and yet very awed about what had happened to me during my near-death experiences.
At first all the of the trip that I have now was not there.

I kept slipping out of this world and kept asking, “Am I alive?” This world seemed more like a dream than that one. Within three days I was feeling normal again, clearer, yet different than I had ever felt in my life. My memory of my near-death experience came back later. I could see nothing wrong with any human Being I had ever seen.  Before that I was really judgmental. I thought a lot of people were really screwed up. In fact, I thought that everybody was screwed up but me.  But I got clear on all that.

About three months later a friend said I should get tested, so I went and got the scans and so forth.
I really felt good, so I was afraid of getting bad news.  I remember the doctor at the clinic looking at the before and after scans, saying, “Well, there is nothing here now.” I said, “Really, it must be a miracle”’ He said “No, these things happen; they are called spontaneous remissions.”  He acted very unimpressed.  But here was a miracle, and I was impressed, even if no one else was.

During my near-death experience I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very surprising.  I did not see Satan or evil.  My descent into Hell was a descent into each person’s customized human misery, ignorance, and darkness of not knowing.  It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of souls around me had a little star of Light always available.  But no one seemed to pay attention to it.  They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery.
But, after what seemed an eternity, I started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent for help.

Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me and insulated me from all that fear and pain, That is what Hell really is.  So what we are doing is learning to hold hands, to come together.  The doors of Hell are open now.  We are going to link up, hold hands and walk out of Hell together.  The light came to me and turned into a huge golden Angel.  I said, “Are you the Angel of Death?”  It expressed to me that it was my oversoul, my Higher Self matrix, a super ancient part of ourselves.  Then I was taken to the Light.

Soon our science will quantify spirit.  Isn’t that going to be wonderful?  We are coming up with devices now that are sensitive to subtle energy or spirit energy.  Physicists use these atomic colliders to smash atoms to see what they are made of.  They have got it down to quarks and charm, and all that.  Well, one day they are going to come down to the little thing that holds it all together, and they are going to have to call it…God.  We are just beginning to understand that we are creating too, as we go along.  As I saw forever, I came to a realm during my near-death experience in which there is a point where we pass all knowledge and begin creating the next fractal, the next level.  We have that power to create as we explore.  And that is God expanding itself through us.

Since my return I have experienced the Light spontaneously, and I have learned how to get to that space almost any time in my meditation.  Each one of you can do this.  You do not have to die or have a near-death experience to do this.  It is within your equipment; you are wired for it already. The body is the most magnificent Light Being there is. The body is a Universe of incredible Light. Spirit is not pushing us to dissolve this body. That is not what is happening. Stop trying to become God;  God is becoming you.  Here.

I asked God:  “What is the best religion on the planet? Which one is right?”  And Godhead said, with great love: “I don’t care.” That was incredible grace. When Godhead said, “I don’t care,” I immediately understood that it is for us to care about.  It is important, because we are the caring Beings.  It matters to us and that is where it is important.  What you have is the energy equation in spirituality.
Ultimate Godhead does not care if you are Protestant, Buddhist or whatever.  It is all a blooming facet of the whole.  I wish that all religions would realize it and let each other be. Live and let live.  Each has a different view.  And it all adds up to the big picture; it is all important.

I went over to the other side during my near-death experience with a lot of fears about toxic waste, nuclear missiles, the population explosion, the rainforest.  I came back loving every single problem.  I love nuclear waste.  I love the mushroom cloud; this is the holiest mandala that we have manifested to date, as an archetype.  It, more than any religion or philosophy on Earth, brought us together
all of a sudden, to a new level of consciousness.  Knowing that maybe we can blow up the planet fifty times, or 500 times,we finally realize that maybe we are all here together, now. For a period they had to keep setting off more bombs to get it in to us.  Then we started saying, “we do not need this any more.” Now we are actually in a safer world than we have ever been in, and it is going to get safer.
So I came back from my near-death experience loving toxic waste because it brought us together. These things are so big.  As Peter Russell might say, these problems are now “soul size.” Do we have soul size answers” YES!

The clearing of the rain forest will slow down, and in fifty years there will be more trees on the planet than in a long time.  If you are into ecology, go for it; you are that part of the system that is becoming aware.  Go for it with all your might, but do not be depressed. It is part of a larger thing.  Earth is in the process of domesticating itself.  It is never again going to be as wild a place as it once was.
There will be great wild places, reserves where nature thrives.  Gardening and reserves will be the thing in the future. Population increase is getting very close to the optimal range of energy to cause a shift in consciousness.  That shift in consciousness will change politics, money, energy.

After dying, going through my near-death experience and coming back, I really respect life and death. In our DNA experiments we may have opened the door to a great secret.  Soon we will be able to live as long as we want to live in this body.  After living 150 years or so, there will be an intuitive soul sense that you will want to change channels.  Living forever in one body is not as creative as reincarnation, as transferring energy in this fantastic vortex of energy that we are in.  We are actually going to see the wisdom of Life and death, and enjoy it.  As it is now, we have already been alive forever.

This body, that you are in, has been alive forever.  It comes from an unending Stream of Life,
back to the Big Bang and beyond.  This body gives life to the next life, in dense and subtle energy.
This body has been alive forever already.

***

by Mellon Thomas Benedict
for more information visit his website

http://www.mellen-thomas.com/index.html

by Shelley Lynne Cummins

The divine marriage within is the internal play
of separation, courtship & union of our polar selves…Shakti & Shiva.
No matter what gender we embody there is a dynamic
of communication & communion.  By perceiving Shakti & Shiva within,
one has the ability to direct the play.  For one’s worldly experiences
are merely a reflection of what truly is within.

Shakti represents the Goddess or our feminine nature.
It is our infinite potential and space awaiting fulfillment.
The qualities of Shakti are receptivity, nurturing, and simply being love.

Shiva  represents God or our masculine nature.
This is our creator utilizing thoughts, words, and actions.
Shiva is the light that fills the emptiness, the creator shaping love into form.

]]> http://jaisriyogis.com/articles/the-divine-marriage-within/feed/ 0 http://jaisriyogis.com/articles/mushen-the-matrix/ http://jaisriyogis.com/articles/mushen-the-matrix/#comments Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:05:40 +0000 shelleyc http://jaisriyogis.com/?p=390 Continue reading →]]>

by Lisa Marie Gutowski

There is a state of being, where all barriers dissolve, where grounded centered concentration flows from your being as easily as our bodies move through the air. This place is called Mu-Shen, a Chinese word meaning mind-no mind. It is complete poise, balanced perfectly between the physical world and the blank slate of spirit. It is where your mind creates your bodies movements before conscious thought can be acknowledged. Here, liberated from the chains of mental/emotional processes, the body joins in the flow of energy of all that exists. Suspended above the known world, vision is clear, the mind sharp, the body moves with grace and decision.

Mushen is brother to the Tao, one cannot adequately explain it with mere words. The Tao that can be told is not the true Tao. Tao is the path, way, method to enlightenment, and is different for us all. Like the Tao, to get to Mushen, you must let go of all preconceived notions and heavy baggage that ties us to this earth plane. Mushen is sister to Karma. It is a force of the Universe, a law unto itself, bordered by the mind and buffered by the spirit.

The key to the portal of Mushen is different for each of us. It could be a physical activity, a sport, yoga, tai chi, gung fu, martial arts, washing the dishes, that leads us into the deep connection. Meditation is a gift that deepens the relationship between all our levels of existence- and Mushen. Absorption into a ritual will alter a persons consciousness enough to enter Mushen.

By entering into Mushen, you expand, achieve Mushen even for the briefest of time, it is understood completely. It is the doorway to the all, that is opened by effortless effort.

In this time, knowledge is coming to us at an astounding rate. Questions that we ask have answers before we can form the questions in our minds. Knowledge of the things we never knew we needed to know are in our faces daily. Master Jesus declared, “The answer to your prayer is on the way even before you speak.”

The printed word, music, television, movies, the internet, overheard conversations- all synchronistic events designed to draw you closer to Mushen.

One such movie is “The Matrix”. It is about a man, Neo, who becomes the embodiment of Mushen to save the human existence. He becomes the doorway, the first like Usui in reiki, so that all may experience Mushen. For those who have never seen the movie, I highly recommend it. I will try to give a brief explanation, no explanation, however will give you fully the knowing you can receive by watching the film yourself. It is just one of those things where you don’t know that you don’t know until you know.

Like each one of us when we begin to awaken to the reality that there is something much more than just a physical existence going on here, Neo develops an itch that cannot be scratched by conventional methods. He rebels against the society that he lives in by being a black-market seller of bootlegged cyber material. The itch, temporarily eased by his defiance, increases instead of decreases.

He knows this itch, yet he doesn’t know how he knows, is the crux of the entire worlds problems. There is something wrong with the world. The powers in charge are behind it, and as he gets revenge on the powers that be by selling forbidden information, he feels slightly, briefly better. How many of us have used outside stimulation to dull our senses so that we cannot hear our inner voices speaking or feel our spiritual itch?

Neos itch is “What is the Matrix?” Our itch is “Who am I?”, “What is my purpose?”. It is the same question.

Through a series of synchronistic choreographed events, Neo comes into the acquaintance of the one person who he feels has the anti-itch balm, Morpheus. Morpheus knows about the itch, because he was once infected with it also. He holds all the answers that Neo has been asking. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. We are at one time all Neo, standing on the brink of discovering a new level of existence, not yet having full comprehension that other planes of knowledge have been available to us all along.

Neo is offered two pills, one that will put him to sleep so that Morpheus and crew can put him back in his own bed, believing it was all a dream, to live out his life in a state of flux. The other pill, one that imprints his cells so that the crew can find his physical body when it awakens from it’s slumber in the “real world.” We have the same decision. Free will is ours, a gift from spirit, yet before we know we are free, we feel bound because that is what society has conditioned us to feel. Know that that is not a good thing or a bad thing, it is just a thing, a tool for our learning. We are fully responsible for our blindness, and can open our eyes in degrees or fully anytime we choose.

Once Neos body is revived, there is a period of adjustment that is a necessity. It takes time to establish an equilibrium, between the faster moving spiritual energy that is enlivened by raising our vibrational rate in our energetic levels first, and our bodies. Integrating new knowledge is like upgrading a computer, it doesn’t just happen. The old system has to be reconfigured to make it compatible with the new technology. Master Jesus said, “You can’t pour new wine into old wine skins, the skins will burst. First, get new wine skins.” Well, we can’t exactly run out and purchase new bodies. As higher energy (knowledge) is being poured into us, our bodies need to become stronger, lighter, and cleaner to accommodate the incoming energy. Resting is a part of Mushen.

It is in the stillness, the cessation of activity, that spirit can be heard. Mushen is a dichotomy. Motion in stillness, movement without thought, mind no mind. In stillness we see how deep the pond goes that is fed only by love. Vast oceans of wisdom are ours for the asking.

Mushen is an art form, and as such a discipline. There are neural pathways in our brains that run like roads. They connect to every cell in our bodies, delivering our thoughts. With every command, the neural pathways deepen, like ruts in a dirt road, forming habits. Garbage in garbage out. Therefore, the more time spent in Mushen, the easier it will become for us to enter into this state when needed.

It was vitally important for Neo to know with no doubts that he could achieve Mushen. He was goaded into discovering this ability while sparring in a training session in a simulation of the fake world of the Matrix. Morpheus asked him, “Do you believe that is air that you are breathing?” Do you believe the illusion or the reality? He let go of his ego which bound him to the illusion, and all that would bind him to the physical reality, for he knew the training area was not where the real Neo could possibly be, it was not the real world. Neo was able to step into the quantum space of Mushen by letting go and simply being.

All things, even air, are made of atoms, at the quantum level are 99% space. If a hockey puck in downtown Detroit was a nucleus, then a house in Toronto Canada would be an electron, and another house in Dublin Ireland would be a proton, held together in the Ozone layer, which represents the containing field. The space between the solids (which are really just energy patterns themselves) inside the atom is where Mushen resides.

This is where time collapses. Have you ever concentrated so hard on a task that an hour feels like minutes? This is where reality shifts, where altering our energetic thought pattern create a differing reality. Quantum energy can move like a wave or a stream, and it changes when observed. By the simple act of passive watching, at the quantum level we change the way the energy moves. Here immediate, simultaneous results occur. It may take time in the physical to show, being a denser, slower moving energy, but eventually it will show.

There is no time, there is no spoon, do you think that is air that you are breathing?

We, like Neo, must rid ourselves of all unconscious doubts and fears before Mushen becomes the power that it can be in our lives. Neo finally free his mind completely by dying, not on the ship where his body is, but in the arena of the mind, the Matrix. The body has no choice but to follow, for the body and the mind cannot be separated. It is when Trinity, a fellow freedom fighter, confesses her love to him, giving up her fear in response to the love, that he drops the illusion of death in the mind. His body revives in the Matrix, and he becomes a powerful weapon, fighting the captors who have trapped humanity in a deep coma for their purposes.

We, like Neo, can be a powerful force on this planet. With the conscious use of Mushen, we can morph hate into love, violence into compassion, disease into health, poverty into prosperity. By training our minds to not only accept the silence but to embrace it, we can access the vast supply of information that lies waiting for our use.

Reality is perception. This world is a holographic image formed from the collective unconscious (thoughts) of the participants in the drama. The arena of earth is a tool to be used for our learning. Until we develop a healed collective unconscious, where the stronger energy pull is one of love, not one that needs to see war for the mirror it provides for their inner-selves, we will have conflicts.

When the collective unconscious of the participants in poverty stricken areas raise to the degree that they must see the poverty within their souls, the healing will commence. When disease ravages a community, and whole Nations fall prey to its destruction, the collective unconscious of the Nation must hear what the disease is saying. It is there for a reason, it will not disappear until it is heard, it will only grow when ignored. All diseases/issues have a lesson and a voice.

By entering into Mushen, we not only are honoring what we brought to ourselves for the purpose of higher learning, but we can hear the answer to the questions “why are you here?’, “what must we do to heal?”, “how do we alter our perceptions in order to learn the lesson you provide?”

One person entering the collective unconscious via Mushen will set off a wave of change that affects the entire ocean of reality for us all. If the energy is positive or if it is negative, it will only reflect back to us in the physical what we have chosen. Let us join in Mushen, in the place where all can be changed, in love. Once we have chosen the greater path, the higher thoughts, we can then heal our own selves. By living in compassion space, we will choose love in Mushen, which will reflect back to us what we live on the inside- peace, joy, love, prosperity, unity, oneness. It is our choice, it is our power, it is our greatest lesson.

about Lisa Marie Gutowski
Windwalker Reiki was given life with this mission statement: The greatest master is not the one with the most students, but the one that creates the most masters.

A displaced native of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio now living in Dearborn, Michigan, Lisa Marie Gutowski lives in a renovated bungalow with her loving husband Art, the boys Daryll and Kyle, and Tyler the hairy flat coated retriever. After training in the martial arts for eight years and receiving a 2nd degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, Lisa Marie followed the persistent urgings of spirit to her divine purpose. Becoming healed and whole, the master of her own fate while assisting others to do the same is the focus of Windwalker Reiki. As a Usui master, martial arts and meditation instructor holding rank in Tae Kwon Do, Kenpo, and Tai Chi, Therapeutic Touch practitioner, Healing Touch student, Ordained Minister of Reiki Healing in the Taokan Temples International, Ordained in the Universal Life Church, and Tarot reader for healing, Lisa Marie was gifted the reiki system of Sei-Shin-Ki. Sei-Shin-Ki reiki raises the body’s vibration through elevating and clearing all levels (physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual) first, eventually activating all DNA strands for a oneness with quantum level knowledge. Realigning all spirit bodies, bringing back parts of spirit that has been dormant for lifetimes, and reintegrating lost parts of the self is what Se-Shi-Ki is about. An effective yet simple method for healing. Lisa Marie is currently writing a book of her collective knowledge gained from 21 years of spiritual experience.

You may contact her at gutowski@peoplepc.com

article copyright Lisa Marie Gutowski

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The practice of forgiveness is explained very well in the teachings of Jesus from The Course of Miracles. Forgiveness is the act of honoring every being and their actions as an act of pure, innocent, source. The ignorance is simply a play of polarity, untruth, and completely an illusion. As you forgive anything and everything you are functioning from the one mind of source. The practice is taken a step further by seeing all as another yourself, all as a projection of your own mind seeking purification. The purification process is the forgiveness. This practice clears the will from separative thinking allowing for greater experiences of perfectness, unlimited abundance, and eternal life.

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The practice of compassion is similar stemming from the Buddha’s teachings. Compassion is an act of right understanding from the one source mind. As we understand the truth of unity, we are able to release our attachments from the worldly play. As we disentangle from this illusion, we go within and dwell in source. From this all creative heart mind, everything is possible, all questions answered, and truth prevails.

In the compassionate practice of tonglen your sufferings are breathed into your heart on an inhale. The sufferings are transformed while holding the breath in the heart space with right understanding and compassion. On the exhale the sufferings are liberated and sent a blessing of compassion. After you have practiced tonglen on your own sufferings, the practice is done for all beings past, present, or future with any like suffering.

Compassion is sought for all sentient beings everywhere equally. Compassion like forgiveness is a way of living. As the practice is understood the layers of the illusive onion begin to peel. As the illusion has less pull, the will looses reality and often poses even greater battles. As the one heart mind of source is compassionate and forgiving of the will, the untruth dissolves even more.

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Meditation is an art of becoming the source within. The Sanskrit word for meditation is dhyana, meaning the absorption of all there is.

The practice of meditation first entails finding and steadying oneself in the observer. The observer is an aspect of the one source mind. As we begin to observe our thoughts of the mind and worldly body, we experience detachment. This is a knowing that we are not these thoughts and are simply able to watch the play. This observing of the play of our mind also unveils that all is coming from thought. As we choose a thought, it is. As we change a thought, all realities are changed. As we think from source, all is made pure.

At a certain point in meditation, there is a cessation of thought. This is the end of polarity. Consciousness no longer has anything to be conscious of. The cessation of thought is the act of living in unity. As one becomes the observer, one becomes the love of source. This experience of love teaches us how to be compassionate, forgiving, and love itself.

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The next practice is rooting one self in the foundation of source. This entails viewing absolutely everything in our worldly play as an illusion. Living your life as a means of dissolving the illusion and uncovering the truth. Life goes on as usual, yet it is your alchemical playground. The unseen foundation of source through your love, forgiveness, and compassion encompasses your world. As this occurs, polar aspects of the mind become obsolete and therefore no longer part of your worldly reality. The process continues until your mind becomes one hundred percent causal, the cause of all, the source. The source within and without knows that you are perfect, fulfilled, healthy, happy, eternal, and free.

It takes a leap of faith to surrender into the not fully realized source within. It takes one surrender step at a time through the play of the world. Love, forgiveness, and compassion are a means to the end of polarity, delivering the traveler back home.

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I wrote this article a couple of years ago while going through a challenging process of experiencing hurt from another. As I touched the supreme intelligence and love within me beyond worldliness I was able to go through a very gradual process of understanding, giving love, and liberation from the event. As more time passed and my persistence continued more and more understanding came. It has been such a blessing to plant these teachings into my life. The blossoms and fruits continue to flow.

by Christan Hummel

What do the beating of a shaman’s drum, the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, stone monuments in Ireland, a Hopi medicine wheel, the ancient art of feng shui all have in common?  Each are attempts by different cultures to harmonize their space with their environment.  Temples throughout time, from Stonehenge to the Great Pyramid, attest to humanity’s desire to create sacred space, to open a doorway to bring Heaven to Earth.  For thousands of years, humans have been striving towards a sacred union of mind, body and spirit with the land itself.

In ancient Vedic times, it was the natural state for people to be in tune with the core of their innermost being, and thus a natural communion with Nature resulted.  Today, our modern cities are testaments to a world addicted to unbridled growth at any cost.  Electromagnetic stresses, pollution, and negative vibrational energy currents plague us in a manner unprecedented in human history.  Under these conditions, is it still possible to create sacred space?  Is it possible to apply the science of yoga and the wisdom of the ancients to promote harmony in our homes?

The ancient practice of yoga, of integration of mind–body-spirit can harmonize us, as well as our environments.  As in ancient times, the utilization of yoga techniques to become attuned to nature can help us regain this lost inherent wisdom of how to live in harmony with our environment.

THE EARTH AS HOLOGRAPHIC REFLECTION:

Many indigenous cultures throughout the world have viewed the Earth as a holographic reflection of the human body.  Ancient Chinese and Vedic medicine believed that humans possess a meridian system that carries the currents of life energy throughout our bodies.  When they are open, flowing and healthy, so are our body’s systems.

The earth contains these meridians as well.  They have been known by cultures all over the world for thousands of years.  More recently coined “ley lines” by Alfred Watkins in 1921 in England, this concept has now found its way into the common vernacular of our society.

While most homes do not exist on ley lines, there are all other energetic earth currents that influence our home environments.  Some of these “meridians” are polluted with electro stresses as well as negative vibrational toxins such as battles, massacres and the like.  These vibrations are stored in the records of the land itself, reflecting back to its inhabitants and causing serious illness, even death in extreme cases.  Fortunately, these energetic currents respond positively to spiritual impression.  As a result, the vibrational stresses of the average home can be transformed through the same yogic techniques that transform those stresses in our minds and bodies.

AS WITHIN, SO WITHOUT

To bring harmony and purity to our homes, we first have to understand that our external environment is only a reflection of our inner state.  In The Upanishads, one of the great ancient yogic texts, we are reminded:

“As is the atom, so is the universe.

As is the human body, so is the cosmic body.
As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind.

As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm.”

From the atom to the cosmos, Nature’s laws and order are reflected.  All of life is connected to this same order: the human body, our homes, and the cosmos.

Distortions arising in our physical environment are symptoms of minds and emotions that are out of synch with this natural order. As the ancient science of Sthapatya Ved says:

As is the human body, so is the cosmic body.

As is the human body, so is the body (structure) of the building.

As is the body of the building, so is the cosmic body

As is the building plan, so is the cosmic plan.

So by demonstrating harmony in our inner environment, outer environment will begin to reflect that harmony as well.

HARMONIZING OUR HOMES WITH YOGA:

While yoga can restore the flow of Ch’i through our bodies, the same yogic practices of meditation, sacred movement, sound, and ceremony can also create balance, flow, prosperity and peace in our homes.

Our ancient ancestors knew that meditation, ritual and ceremony were an essential part of keeping in balance the harmony between humanity and Nature.  They routinely practiced a kind of yoga with the land, to keep life in balance.  While this is a tradition lost to most of us in our modern culture, yoga holds a key to its revival.

The following yogic practices, when used with intention, will do much to restore balance and harmony to any home, making it a peaceful sanctuary where Heaven and Earth unite:

Clear the Mind:One of the first steps in any yogic regimen is to clear and still the mind.  This begins to align us with the Source of our Being.  Similarly when we clear our homes of the external clutter, we allow the vibrations of a natural order to permeate our surroundings.

Breath: Perhaps one of the most powerful tools in yoga is the use of the breath to bring our consciousness back in tune with the Divine Cosmic Breath.  This Cosmic Breath is the rhythm of Life itself.  The cycles of the seasons represent the inhale and exhale of Life itself.  In the winter, when the force of Life is receding, it is not a good time to start new activities, but to dissolve old attachments and connections, to go within and recede as well.  In the spring, when Life is bursting forth with abundance, it is a time for new projects and activities as we are aligned with the flow of Life at that time.  By synchronizing our home activities with the timings and cycles of Nature, we align ourselves with that Cosmic Breath, or pulsation of Life.

Balance:Achieving balance of mind, body and spirit is a core aim of any yogic practice. In our homes, this is achieved by paying attention to the five elements: earth (body), water (emotions), air (mind), fire (spirit), ether (prana or sound).  Become mindful that your home has a balanced representation of each of the elements.  A home that is predominantly governed by one of these elements over the others will bring its inhabitants out of balance due to the undue influence of that element.

Movement:In yoga, certain movements of the body can stimulate the production of certain hormones, and restore the flow of Ch’i in the body.  Likewise, homes that incorporate aspects of sacred movement will rejuvenate the environment.  For instance, in properties containing labyrinths, there is a curious absence of negative earth energy currents on those properties.  Similarly, rituals such as sacred dance, like the twirling of the Sufi dances, when done with awareness and intention, can transform negative vibrational energies on a property.

Sound:Nada Yoga means “union through sound.”  It is the ancient spiritual art and science of inner transformation through sound and tone.  Russill Paul, author of The Yoga of Sound, states, “Through Nada Yoga, we can fine-tune our bodies and our minds to resonate with the harmony in all of creation, from atoms and cells to flowers and planets.”

The healing uses of sound date back to ancient Greece, when the playing of the flute was used to relieve the pain of sciatica;  and in Biblical times when David treated King Saul’s depression with the playing of the harp.  Today, there is a growing recognition that certain sounds influence health, mental states, emotions and consciousness giving birth to new fields of healing through the use of vibration and sound.

Pythagoras declared that there existed a “music of the spheres,” a harmonic order of the cosmos. When we align with those harmonic sounds of the cosmos, we create a vibrational link to those higher dimensional levels through sound.  Throughout the world, temples have employed sound to vibrate heaven into the sacred meridians of the earth.

The Vedas state that mantras chanted continually have the power to purify and rejuvenated the environment.  When we offer sound as vibrational medicine for our homes, the result is a harmonizing of our environment with that “music of the spheres.”

Form: The asanas of yoga were first devised to mirror the forms in nature.  In so doing, our bodies and minds were put into tune with that natural order.  The same is true of architecture that patterns the harmonics found in Nature.  Nature does not have straight angles, it flows in curves and spirals, and so when we see examples of spirals, like a winding staircase, or the flow of water in a waterfall, we feel an instant harmony in environments that pattern Nature.  Certain mathematical harmonics attuned to Nature achieve similar results.  The mathematical harmonizing with nature was a main key to the building of the Cathedrals and temples throughout Europe, China, Egypt and India.

Ceremony: In yoga, the yajnas, or fire sacrifices, are a ceremonial bridge between the inner and outer worlds, between human and the divine.  Fire transforms all things into their most subtle essence.  Whether applying the spiritual fire of spiritual practice (tapas) or the actual fire of a candle flame, fire transmutes and refines both our inner and outer environments.  The ritual of placing a problem at the fire of a candle each night relieves the mind of the problem and one awakes feeling refreshed and relieved of the burden offered to the sacrificial fire.  Yagnas like Agnihotra, dedicated to the god of fire, are known to purify the environment on physical as well as subtle levels.  They have been shown to lower pathogenic viruses, pollution and even crime in areas where performed. Imagine the effect of yagnas performed in our homes.  Sacred blessings of the land, releasing of the energies and traumas of the past, giving thanks to the ancestors, releasing all prior spirits on the property, all are ceremonies which purify and cleanse the vibrations of our homes when done with mindfulness.

While times have changed, basic principles have not.  Ancient yogic techniques of nada yoga harnessing the subtle vibrations of sound, asanas designed to mirror Nature’s perfection, yagnas to purify and redeem the past, and meditation tuning us into the divine current of life around us—these techniques work not only to refine our own inner subtle vibrations, but also the vibrations of the space where we live, and our planet as well.  Now is a crucial time to make our homes our temples–places where the sacred vibrations radiate out to heal our families and communities.  While our modern times have created more complex problems, they have also created different solutions to the same age-old quest:  creating sacred space on earth.  By harmonizing the vibrations of our space, and creating sacredness among the mundane, we can transform our homes into sanctuaries of harmony.

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Christan Hummel is the creator of the “Do It Yourself Space Clearing Kit” and an international lecturer and workshop leader.  She has taught thousands around the world how to create sacred space in their homes and cities through connecting with the divine in nature and ourselves.

For information see:
http://www.earthtransitions.com/

by Sai Sastri (Craig Edwards)

The Vedas are the ancient cognitions of seers about truth and reality that have been passed down for thousands of years to the present day. The Vedas are too difficult for most people to understand their meaning. So, the ancient seers and rishis produced many ancillary scriptures and practices that made the truths of the Vedas easier to understand. The Puranas were written, which tell stories about people. They are easy to understand illustrations about how nature works. The Upanishads, Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad – Gita were composed, which are eas(ier) to understand philosophical treatises about Vedanta and other areas of life. Hundreds of thousands of spiritual exercises, such as variations of meditation and yoga techniques are practiced in order for people to understand the truths of the Vedas. And practical sciences arose, such as Ayur-Veda, the science of maintaining good health, and Jyotish, or Vedic Astrology, through which people could better understand their purpose and destiny on earth.

Jyotish describes how past karmas (actions) return to a person in their present life. A good Jyotishee (Vedic astrologer) can plot a roadmap of a person’s life and give a fairly accurate description of a person and their tendencies, likes and dislikes, propensity for education, wealth, spousal happiness, and so forth. Jyotish alone is not enough to solve problems in these areas, however. The seers and saints devised another system to rid people of problems. This system is called yagnas. The best translation of yagna is “sacrifice”. What are sacrificed in the yagna are a person’s negative tendencies. Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple performs monthly yagnas to help remove problems from negative karmas. What follows are questions and answers on yagnas prepared for Vedic astrologers during the September, 2005 American College of Vedic Astrology conference in Kauai, Hawaii.

Questions and Answers Regarding Yagnas

What is the purpose of the planetary yagnas?

The purpose is to either strengthen positive planet(s) or to neutralize or appease a planet causing mischief in a person’s chart.

What happens during the yagna?

The yagna is a traditional Vedic ceremony. It’s most basic component on the visible level is the offering of ghee and other substances like herbs and grains into a fire while mantras are chanted.

How can yagnas help my clients?

It is often apparent to the astrologer that the source of a client’s problems comes from one or two planets. For instance, a poorly placed Venus may mean a lack of wealth. An afflicted Saturn may mean a tendency towards depression. Certain placements of Rahu can lead to a greater likelihood of drug addiction. A poorly placed Mercury may cause speech problems, and so forth. As an astrologer, we can often see clearly what the source of a particular problem is. The yagnas are designed to mitigate challenging energies radiating from the planets.

Can the karmas coming from the grahas (planets) be avoided?

Karmas are very difficult to avoid. However, their effects can be mitigated. If we introduce a strong positive force through the yagna then the negative force is lessened. Think of a big wave coming to the shore – if another wave is created going in the opposite direction, the wave coming to the shore is reduced, negated, or may even start traveling in an opposite direction.

How could I explain the yagnas to others?

We all have some good karma, and some bad karma. For instance, when the U.S. sends food to help hungry people in other countries — that is good karma. It has a positive effect. When the U.S. sells arms to other countries so that they can kill people, that creates negative karma, because it brings destruction. Just like that, we all have good and bad karma, because we perform some good and some bad actions in our life. Our actions ripple out through the universe towards infinity and eventually return to us in this or a future life. The horoscope is a static picture of the karmas we face in this lifetime. Although the karmas may be fixed by the chart, how we respond to the karmas is not so rigid. We can use our willpower and take remedial measures to overcome karmas. It is like the weather. It may be predetermined that it is going to rain today, but if we are wise, we can get out of the rain and stay dry.

Why are ghee and other substances offered into the fire?

One way to look at life is to say that it is all made up of vibrations. Saint Kaanada cognized some 20,000 years ago that the universe is made up of micro-atoms, which are like little solar systems spinning through the universe. In Sanskrit, these are called paramanu, or prakriti. When the micro-atoms are creative, they are called Brahma, when they are in maintenance phase they are called Vishnu, and when they are in a destructive phase they are called Shiva.

The Sun is the ruler of our world. From the Sun comes all the energy that sustains us. This energy grows plants. The plants are eaten by cows. The cows produce milk, further concentrating the solar energy which was absorbed in the plants. This milk is refined into cream for further concentration of the solar energy. From cream is made butter. Butter is refined and separated further into ghee. This ghee is used in the yagna and is a super-pure source of solar energy. When the ghee is offered into the fire along with the Vedic mantras, the solar energy is released into the atmosphere and influences the micro-atoms in a positive way. Depending on what mantras are used, we can affect any of the micro-atoms as we desire. In addition to ghee, other items such as roots, plants, grains, fruits, nuts, honey, herbs, and other items related to the specific planetary energy are offered into the fire. This is the outward process of yagna, and how it influences the world around us.

What is the inner process of yagna?

On the inner level, those involved in performing the yagna should be abandoning the three dimensional world and imbibing their hearts with love and respect for the deity being propitiated. Love is the unifying force of the universe. When love is present, then God and man can unite and become one. Miracles are possible.

What is the ultimate purpose of the yagnas? Can they bring enlightenment?

The yagnas help cleanse the awareness. They are like a vacuum machine for difficult karmas. The yagnas will not bring moksha (final enlightenment) but they start the process of cleansing that allows a person to move towards liberation. Yagnas bring benefits to all levels of life – physical health, mental and emotional well-being, physical comfort, and so forth. For many people, it is only after these goals are satiated that a thirst for spiritual development grows.

What is the significance of the mantras?

Like the fire, the mantras are central to the yagna. From a scientific standpoint, we might say that the mantras are the specific formula that invoke the energy or vibration one desires. It is very important that the mantra is pronounced correctly. If we consider the mantras as specific, scientific formulas, then we must use the right formula to get the right result. We don’t want to be like the dyslexic man who worships dog! Few of us are Vedic pundits, so it is best we use simple mantras so as not to butcher the language and end up with poor or even negative results.

There is another respected theory that if the mantra is chanted with love and devotion, God will make up for the mistakes. There is undoubtedly merit to this theory. Perhaps if there is enough love in one’s heart God will make up any deficiency.

Our considered opinion, however, is that it is important to use correct pronunciation for correct results. If you go to the post office, and put the wrong address and postage on the letter, chances are it won’t reach the correct recipient. It is the same with the yagnas.

To get miraculous results, one should have both correct pronunciation and a full heart.

What is the significance of the fire?

In the Vedas, the flames of the fire are sometimes called “the tongues of God.” Agni (the fire deity) is frequently referred to as “the Messenger of the Gods.” He accepts the oblation into the fire, and after taking his portion, conveys the rest to the deities in heaven. The deities, pleased with man’s offering, shower blessings on the world – timely rain, abundance of crops, wealth, and so forth. We might call this the “religious” explanation of the yagna. The more “scientific” explanation is that when ghee and other substances are offered into the fire then their solar energy, accompanied by the correct mantras, is released into the universe creating a powerful vibration that brings the desired result. Both explanations are correct, they are just looking at the same thing from different angles.

Does someone need to attend the yagna in person?

It is good if someone can attend in person. But we’ve also seen many miraculous results when the person is not attending.

How were you trained?

Panduranga Rao Malyala, President of the Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania trained me in India to perform simple yagnas. We have been working together since 1995.

What does yagna mean?

One translation of the word yagna (which is variously transliterated as yajna, yaga, yagya, and so forth) is sacrifice.

What is sacrificed?

What we sacrifice are negative thoughts and tendencies. In this sense, our whole life should be a yagna.

Can yagnas be done for children?

Most definitely. Any time after birth.

Can yagnas be done for people who don’t ask for them?

Most definitely. Our temple performs yagnas for the welfare of people all over the world every year, even though people aren’t aware of it! So if you have a sick relative, or a friend in need of help, or for instance, you are concerned about the mental state of a world leader, it is okay to do a yagna to help them with or without their knowledge.

Is there anything the client should or shouldn’t do during the yagna?

Yes. We suggest three things. 1) No sex for 24 hours before, during and after the yagna.
2) No non-prescribed drugs or alcohol during the same period. 3) No meat or eggs during the same period. This will improve the effects and make the yagna smoother for your client.

If they want to practice extra meditation or contemplation during the yagna day, that is fine.

Is there anything else one can do to make the yagna more successful?

We usually ask the client to do some charity during or after the yagna, such as giving 21 or more loaves of bread to a homeless shelter or food bank. Charity has a wonderful effect on the giver. It opens the heart and brings good karma. Yagna means sacrifice. Charity or service is the best sacrifice available.

If the client is amenable, we can suggest they do charity specifically related to the planet. For instance, if we are suggesting charity to appease Saturn, the charity should be done on a Saturday. Black beans might be given, since Saturn’s color is blackish. The beans might be given to a laborer, as Saturn’s nature favors laborers. We might also suggest a black or bluish dress be given to a young girl or lady. If we were propitiating Jupiter, we would suggest a different grain and a yellow dress, and so forth.

There are a number of websites that make suggestions on these practices, such as the “Remedies” section on Digital Jyotish’s website, which is at: www.astroiq.com/remedies/p1_sun_toptab.aspx

Even feeding the birds with seed or ants with a few grains of sugar will help carry a client’s worries away, with or without a yagna. Don’t underestimate the value of charity. It can produce miracles. Your client may not want a yagna, but if you can convince them to do a little charity (or better, regular charity) you will have helped them considerably.

If we want to do mantra recitation ourselves, how do we find the correct pronunciation for mantras?

Unless we are a masters of Sanskrit and Vedic recitation, we should stay with simple mantras so as to avoid mispronunciations. James Braha’s website shows how to pronounce some planetary mantras:http://www.jamesbraha.com/mantras.html

The Digital Jyotish website mentioned above also includes mantra pronunciation for the planets. Also, pronunciation can be found at:

www.hinduastrology.com/mantrasaudio/index.asp.

And you can purchase many CD’s with planetary mantras. My favorite is Sree Ma’s Mantras of the Nine Planets at:

http://www.shreemaa.org/.

My client sponsored a yagna and complained of no results. In my experience, if ten people begin any spiritual practice, be it yagna, yoga, meditation, Ayurveda, and so forth, one or two of them say that it “changed their lives”. Most of the others will note some benefit, and one or two complain of no results. So this is normal. Sometimes it only takes a little yagna to produce miraculous results. Sometimes the karma is so strong that it would take a tremendous amount of effort and yagna to resolve a problem. If the client is blessed with faith they may continue performing yagnas and other practices in order to remove their karmas. If they are not so blessed, they will become discouraged and stop.

What do people experience during and after the yagna?

While the yagna is being performed, some people feel a sort of catharsis going on, maybe some emotional roughness or physical discomfort. Some people feel very blissful or happy. Others feel nothing at all! It is the same with the results. A majority experience some immediate identifiable benefit. But some cannot identify any immediate benefit. And sometimes the yagna precipitates some crisis followed by a benefit. (For instance, one decides one hates one’s job, quits, then finds a better job.)

From our study of Jyotish, we know that some karmas are mild, and some are very deep. Someone who already has strong yogas for wealth may just need a little yagna to obtain great wealth. Someone who has great yogas for poverty may take a lot more work. In either case, we do experience that everyone benefits from the yagnas. As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita “even a little of this knowledge relieves a man of great fears.”

Some examples of how people might benefit:

Some people participate in the yagnas for general upliftment. But others are looking for a resolution of a major life crisis, such as a troubled marriage, problems with debts, health problems, and so forth. For these people, we look for a resolution or improvement in the major life challenge the person is facing either immediately or in the weeks following the yagna. For instance, if a client is troubled by drug addiction caused by a poorly placed Rahu, we would a perform Rahu yagna to relieve that affliction, and look for some turning point in the addiction: the client returns to AA meetings, goes into rehab, realizes they have a problem, and so forth. If someone is having trouble at school due to a poorly placed Mercury, we might perform Budha and Gayatri yagna and expect to see improvement in their school grades. We recently performed a Saturn and nine planets yagna for a teenage girl who had attempted suicide and was confined in a mental hospital. Following the yagna, she told her father that “she no longer wanted to be a fashion model,” apparently a source of her anorexia that had led to a suicide attempt.

We believe that as a good astrologer, you need to use your intuition as well as your intellect. Usually one planet will “pop out” of a chart as needing attention in someone’s life. While this is usually correct, after we begin the yagna we sometimes find that another planet needs more attention. During a nine planet yagna, this sometimes becomes more clear.

As in any spiritual practice, a little faith is a valuable thing. When I was sixteen, I decided to start the practice of meditation, but promised myself that I would definitely quit unless I achieved cosmic consciousness within two years! More than thirty years later, I’m still working at it! This is because I believe in the process and have seen progress along the way.

One needs good karma to come into contact with these yagnas. One must have even better karma to have faith and perform them regularly.

What else should we know about the planets?

Each of the planets is an expansion of a particular aspect of God. During the yagna we also perform homam (make offerings) to these aspects of God, called deities. The offerings are made not only for the benefit of those sponsoring the yagna, but for the welfare of the entire universe.

The nine planets and their rulers:

Many astrologers will also be interested to know that there is a yagna for the nakshatras (either one day or 27 days for each of the 27 nakshatras). Please contact us if you are interested in having this yagna performed. It works on a more subtle and powerful level than the planetary mantras.

Does the Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple perform other yagnas?

Yes. There are generally six types of problems in human life, for which six different yagnas are done. These are:

From time to time, we will do extended yagnas for one of these areas. For example, in May and July this year we performed a nine and a seven day yagna to Mahalakshmi – Kubera. Those on our e-mail list are informed of these yagnas.

An expanded list of yagnas available through the Pittsburgh temple is available at

http://www.baba.org/

How is it best to refer a client to the Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple?

Many people are intimidated to call a Temple for a ceremony they know little about. If you as an astrologer are willing to arrange the yagna on behalf of your client, this is an additional service you can provide that will help them. We will also include your name at the beginning of the yagna (sankalpam) so you can benefit from the yagna.

If you contact us for a yagna, please provide us with the name and the moon’s nakshatra (birthstar) of the client and yourself. If you want to provide us any additional information about the nature of the client’s need, it sometimes helps us tune into what is needed for the client.

How are donations made?

Yagnas are paid for by donation, according to a person’s ability to pay. For those asking guidance on the amount of donation, a (tax-deductible) donation of $108 per yagna is standard, or $504 for all nine planets over seven days. Donations can be made by check or money order via the postal service, or credit card, using the postal service, the phone, or fax.

How does the moon calendar relate to yagnas?

In the Vedic way of thinking, certain days (generally calculated according to the lunar calendar, distinct from the solar calendar normally used) are most auspicious for performing certain types of worship. For instance, Saturn is best worshipped on “Sani Trayodasi.” Sani Trayodasi means a Saturday which falls on the thirteenth lunar day of the bright or dark half of the lunar month. Another example is that each planet rules three nakshatras. So, for instance, if we find that the Moon is in Rohini on a Monday (Rohini being one of the Moon’s three nakshatras), then this is an especially auspicious day on which to perform a Moon yagna.

Most of the Hindu holidays are based on the Moon calendar. As an example, Shiva is worshipped for good health, relief from mental illness, and so forth. It is most auspicious to worship Shiva on the fourteenth day of the dark half of each month. If Friday (Shukra) day falls on a full moon, it is most auspicious to worship Shukra and Mahalakshmi on this day. And so forth.

If you are on our e-mail list, we try and alert you when such special opportunities arise.

Where does the money go from these yagnas?

Sri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple is a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation. The primary uses of money from these yagnas is to 1) fund large world peace yagnas in India each year, and 2) support two schools in India where Vedic pundits are trained.

Can you describe the results expected from specific yagnas?

The effect of any particular planetary yagna on a person is specific to that person’s particular chart. Mars and Saturn are generally considered as the two greatest “malefics”. But on the other hand, a well placed Mars provides one with great energy. A well placed Saturn allows one to be a steady, strong worker. But a poorly placed Mars can make one aggressive or even violent, and a poorly placed Saturn may mean a lot of difficulties and struggles. We don’t believe that the energy from the planets is ever malefic – it is just reflected on a particular person as being negative in the context of that person’s life.

Study of a person’s chart, as well as extensive knowledge of each of the nine planets is helpful in describing the benefits of a particular planetary yagna for a particular individual. Here are some broad descriptions:

Surya, the Sun: This yagna provides good health and illustrious intelligence.
Chandra, the Moon: This yagna provides peace of mind and stability of emotions.
Mangal, Mars: This yagna reduces aggressive tendencies, and makes one a capable leader.
Budha, Mercury: This yagna increases intelligence, helps learning, improves speech, and so forth.
Brihaspati, Jupiter: This yagna provides balance, stability, and restores order to a person’s life.
Shukra, Venus: This yagna provides material comforts, physical beauty, and so forth.
Sani, Saturn: This yagna reduces difficulties and makes life easier.
Rahu, North node of the Moon: This yagna smoothes out problems in one’s life.
Ketu, South Node of the Moon: This yagna helps spiritual development and removes shadows from one’s awareness.

Aum Sai Ram.

Universal Prayer

May the wicked turn good
May the good attain peace
May the peaceful be freed from all bondage; and
May the liberated redeem others
May all be happy
May all be healthy
May all see auspicious things
O God (O Sai Baba) – Lead us from:
Darkness to Light
Ignorance to Wisdom
Mortality to Immortality
Give us:
The courage & Strength
To live together
To love together
To work together
To prosper together
May everybody surmount difficulties
May everybody have good fortune
May everybody realize his or her ambitions
May everybody rejoice everywhere
Aum peace peace peace

For questions on planetary yagnas, he can be reached at:

www.saiaustin.com

His wife Sai Yogini (Jill Edwards) is a Vedic astrologer and will read charts to prescribe planetary yagnas. She can be reached at the above email as well.