Karma yoga

Karma means action- take action- but what is that action? Is it merely doing or is it the action of complete surrender. Is it the ego assuming there is something it must do in order to be? Or is it just that in the being is the doing? Once the bow is drawn the arrow is already shot. The mere intention of action is action."In tension". As humans we long to be free of tension but with out tension no action can be taken. It is the paradox of life. To do or not to do, that is the being....

In yoga practice we say release the tension, let the arrow fly, let go feel that you are allready there, in fact all that is and ever was is pouring through you at this very moment. The moment, arrows flying, actions resolving themselves ,new actions being created. Swami Sivananda said " be good " "be good, then do good" Can we accept that we are good and that our purpose is to string the bow, aim the arrow and shoot, and that that flying arrow leads us from moment to moment?

Sometimes I feel like the arrow, my master has taken aim, but I have no idea about the mark, other times my gaze is as steady as the archer and I don't even need to look to shoot. I am guided by the one true soul of me.

Trusting Trusting

Photo of Ganesh by Tao Jones

Deeper meditation

meditating on the form
deeply moving in
my form is light
the body and its structures
placed carefully in asana
moved by the breath
my tratakam gaze
pulling me in in
I visualise my temple heart
and in it
ganesha ganesha always ganesha

just read a bit by Venkatesananda about the Gerandha Samhita and the three types of meditation- Sthula dhyana, Jyoti dhyana and Shuksma dhyana
moving from more complex forms of visualisation to more subtle

Here is what he says:

"Even so, sthula-dhyana has its place in the scheme of yoga. If the mind is not subtle (being gross and body-conscious), it will not be capable of entering into the subtle regions of contemplation that has often compared to jumping on one's own shoulders. However great an acrobat you may be, a body-conscious, unsubtle mind will not be capable of jumping on its own shoulders. The yogis, realizing this, suggest that it is most advantageous to realize what stage of development one is at, so that one can adapt one's meditation to that stage of development. If all one knows of oneself is "I am the body, gross, physical, material," then it is suggested that this special materialistic approach towards truth called sthula-dhyana be used.

Even should one realize that the earth is extremely subtle, and not what it appears to be through the gross instrument of the human eye, that it is also a mass dancing electrons, subtle, as energy is subtle, if in one's present state of development the earth is seen as solid, let the contemplation of the divine, of the supreme spirit, also be of something solid. There is no harm in proceeding with this, unless, of course, you start insisting that everyone else must do the same, or worse, use it as a stick to beat everyone else into submission:

"The book says to see the ocean! It's prescribed in THE BOOK! Poor man, not to have seen the ocean!"

It is totally inappropriate to force one's own visualization upon someone else. Each must find their own type of visualization. It's not even a question of remaining within the boundaries of one culture verses another. Even within what you think of as your own culture, there are thousands of variations. Some devotees may visualize a crucifix, while others don't even like the symbol of the cross. Some devotees may prefer to visualize a human form. Others would never dream of using a human figure in a visualization of the Divine. Each will have to find his or her own inner predisposition. The only principal that applies to all is the underlying reason for performing this type of meditation: I am body-conscious at present, and therefore, I need a physical symbol upon which the mind can rest, and focus."


Photo of a young swami Venkatesananda by Alan Finger

feeling

sensitive like fine hairs on a fern
when you pass by it curls
green
green the color of my heart
wishing I didn't feel so much
knowing I need to feel
something
but nothing would be better
I think
the thoughts roll
I lie around in this thick soup of me
dreaming pumpkins

Today I went to have a session with my favorite Ayurvedic practitioner Jacinta here in Byron. As usual it was deep, After being prescribed as having sadhaka pitta out of balance I poured back through my Ayurvedic books to see what it really meant.

The literal definition is" Sadhaka pitta is the fire that determines what is the truth or reality. It is located in the brain and in the heart and allows us to accomplish the goals of the intellect, intelligence and ego. these include worldly goals of pleasure wealth and prestige and the spiritual goal of liberation. It governs our mental energy, mental digestion and our power of discrimination. Its development is emphasized in Yoga particularly the yoga of Knowledge" David Frawley from his book Ayurvedic Healing

That about sums it up for me today....

I

Going deeper with the chakras

I have just read a page from Swami Venkatesanada's talks at Yashodara Ashram and he shares some fascinating perspectives on the chakras. He says that really we can't prove where the chakras are, we can only imagine them as being placed in certain locations while taking the image-in. Some people can verify the exact locations through their study of scriptures, but really we can't know. We can only experiment for ourselves. He is however, passionate about visualisation and sees the many different images given for the chakras as a way to go deeper and deeper eventually absorbing your self into the root of the image. In other words you start with the simplest image at the base chakra which is the yantra of the golden square and then like a complex tibetan buddhist yantra you can add more shapes, animals, deities and so on... the same thing occurs with the sounds at first you visualise the four sanskrit syllables on the four petals of the lotus until they are absorbed into the one sound which is LAM. Lam is then absorbed into the next chakra like earth settling to the bottom of water in a flowing stream. I am quite inspired by his description as it gives me permission to be as simple or as complex with my visualisations in meditation. Sometimes I need to see each aspect and other times just the sense of it balancing through the mantra and yantra is enough.....