Shanmugam

One Zen student said, "My teacher is the best. He can go days without eating." The second said, "My teacher has so much self-control, he can go days without sleep." The third said, "My teacher is so wise that he eats when he's hungry and sleeps when he's tired."

Hello Anna, How are you? .. I missed your presence in this forum.

No one else is interested to watch the videos and discuss?

Thank you.. I am not an expert in Quantum mechanics. I am aware of the double-slit experiment. But when it comes to enlightenment and consciousness, I really don't need them to confirm anything; I know the nature of my reality through experience. . I saw you guys discussing it in another thread. As far as I am concerned, I will never get into things that I am not an expert of. And I don't need any external evidence for the fact that everything that I see and experience happens in the conscious experience..

@Lynnel I can put it very simply... There are two parts to spiritual path: doing and non-doing... 'Doing' part involves anything that you do.. This is the longest period in a spiritual path.. All kinds of practices including the techniques in Kriya Yoga are part of this. They are intended to purify the mind and body and remove blockages... This 'doing' part has a lot of varieties which may make people think that they are different paths... But the essence is the same: they are just different ways to prepare the ground. Then comes the 'non-doing' part - This is the most direct approach. But not everyone can succeed with this approach. In fact, for 99% of people they have to do the 'doing' part; after all the blockages are removed, they are ready to abide as the awareness.. The authentic kriya yoga also includes the non-doing part. That is what Lahiri Mahasaya taught. He called it as 'after-effect-poise of Kriya' But what happens in many Kriya yoga organizations is that they focus only on the techniques and completely ignore the ' after-effect-poise of Kriya'. So, they are stuck in some level. They can't go beyond the techniques. On the other hand, many Vedanta teachers have made the whole path as a just mere theory. They completely understate the 'doing' part. Even though they mention that it is necessary, they don't really teach this part. They just give people a theoretical understanding and give them self-inquiry lessons right away. But if you look at Buddhism, you will see that both doing and non-doing part are equally emphasized. Shamatha belongs to the 'doing' part and Vippasana belongs to the non-doing part. Buddha classified them as sammasamadhi and sammasati respectively. But Buddhism can be very easily interpreted as nihilism. Yes... each and every so-called path has pitfalls. But this is not really about one path vs another path. I am simply making the essential thing very clear. It all boils down to 'doing' and 'non-doing'... Hope this clarifies what I am trying to say.

Anyone watching the videos? You may find his ideas about Islam very interesting.. I am quoting those people who are interested in Islam @Joseph Maynor @Nahm @sarapr @RunningWater @Leo Gura By the way, here is the map of the hypothetical lemuria continent:

'Also, as long as I feel like this it the right path for me, I should be fine, right ?'... Yes... Everyone intuitively knows that. But there are some pitfalls that everyone should be aware of. There are not really multiple paths in essence.. So there is no point in even debating which one is correct... What we call as multiple paths today are some distorted versions of a very simple essential path. I can't write down my 25 years of understanding in one post, but it indeed took a lot of years to find out about that. But feel free to explore my blog. Once you read many pages in it, you may see what I am talking about. I am no longer in the journey as a seeker. I started out with serious seeking after getting a glimpse in 2002 and it was complete in 2014. For more than two years I was silent about it. Only in the last one year, I was seriously into researching to discover the essence of all spiritual paths. You can start by reading these three pages on my blog: https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/for-seekers-of-liberation/ https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/spiritual-enlightenment-the-groundwork-needed-for-seekers/ https://nellaishanmugam.wordpress.com/kriya-yoga-exposed-by-santatagamana/

The Kindle version is available on Amazon India.. Amazon KDP self-publishing doesn't support Paperback for Amazon India yet..

Good, looking forward to reading it..

cool .. How much have you finished?

@Saumaya Good job

I would suggest reading that book before you judge.. You will understand... You need extraordinary open-mindedness for that. Of course, it will be hard to see that some of your conclusions about Yoga are wrong but I don't think it will be a problem for you.Because you have already realized many times how wrong you were and you have been pretty honest about it. (I have also realized how wrong I was in my past conclusions pretty much a million times in my life). But I do see that you have become very close-minded when it comes to Yoga. Being born in Indian culture and having been soaked in the teachings of Non-duality, Yoga etc for my entire life, there is a possibility that you are wrong and I am right. @Lynnel I have criticized James Swartz on certain things and we also exchanged emails after that... Though I don't agree with James Swartz for saying that scriptures are the infallible authority and for making Vedanta sound like an intellectual theory only, I now agree with his comments on Yoga, at least as it is taught in modern days... In fact, his comments on the modern day Yoga are very much in line with Ramana Maharshi, Adhi Shankara etc. Yoga and Vedanta were not really two different paths in the beginning. But in the modern days, Vedanta is missing its yogic link and Yoga is missing its Vedantic link. I suggest you all be open-minded when it comes to this.

@Truth Addict Nice to find an Arab in this forum who knows better about Quran in its original language. .. My hobby is to research such things.. If you find any other articles that reveal the correct translation of Quran then kindly share.. Also, share the verses from Quran that talks about loving each and every human being.. (similar to the verses in Bible which talk about loving neighbors and enemies). I also have some videos on my ' watch later' list which talk about some connections between Tamil tradition and Quran. (Tamil is my first language, by the way) I haven't watched them yet but planning to do so. Here is one such video which is a part of a playlist: And I have watched the following video. He sounds convincing; I would take it as a hypothesis.. Let me know your comments after watching this:

@Ether Try taking a bath whenever you feel less energetic; that may make your mind fresh. Listen to this music and let me know how you feel. If you like it and makes you feel pleasant, Google for more songs in Indian/Tamil classical music:

@Faceless Yes... .. Thanks for sharing your comments

You will find this interesting: http://perennialvision.org/greater-jihad/ .. Tell me if you are able to access the web page; or else I will copy and paste the content here.

From 'Zarathustra: A God That Can Dance' by Osho: Zarathustra is unique. He is the only one who is not against life, who is for life; whose god is not somewhere else; whose god is nothing but another name for life itself. And to live totally, to live joyously and to live intensely, is all that religion is based on. I feel a deep empathy, affinity, with Zarathustra. But perhaps because he was life-affirmative and not life-negative, he could not gather many followers. It is one of the strange things about human beings: anything that is easy, they cannot accept as worthy of being the goal – the goal has to be very difficult and arduous. Behind it is the psychology of the ego. The ego always wants something impossible, because only with the impossible can it exist. You will never be able to fulfill desire, and the ego will go on pushing you towards more and more – more greed, more power, more money, more austerities, more spirituality, more discipline. Wherever you find ”more”, remember, that is the language of the ego. And there is no way to satisfy the ego; it is always asking for more. Zarathustra’s whole approach is exactly the same as Chuang Tzu: ”Easy is right. Right is easy.” And when you are utterly relaxed, at ease, at home, so relaxed that you have even forgotten that you are at ease; that you have forgotten that you are right – you have become so utterly innocent like a child, you have arrived. But ego has no interest in this. This whole process is something like the suicide of the ego; hence, religions which have been giving the ego difficult tasks, arduous paths, unnatural ideals, impossible goals – they have attracted millions of people.

Yoga is actually a preparation for self-inquiry. It prepares the ground by purifying the mind and the body, just like many other practices. When It comes to spiritual practice, sometimes people may tend to attribute the ideas of superiority and inferiority. But in reality, nothing is inferior or superior. If a person struggles with self-inquiry, he has to do practices like Yoga to prepare the ground. If a person is just stuck with techniques of yoga and stuck with the idea of becoming 'superior' or become anything at all, it is time for him for a direct approach like self-inquiry. Yoga is a doing; self-inquiry is a non-doing. Doing leads to non-doing. Without doing, a person cannot progress to non-doing; without non-doing, a person will be stuck with doing. None of the steps in the following staircase is superior or inferior to another step:

@egoless I haven't read the book yet.. Will share my comments after reading it.. But this site is extremely helpful and useful.. You can also download free videos that give demonstrations of the techniques explained in that free book: http://www.kriyayogainfo.net/Eng_Downloads2.html

@Paul EMD Based on the recent book 'Kriya Yoga exposed' that I read by another author (Santata Gamana) who I found to be very genuine, Ennio Nimis is probably one of the very authentic. Santata Gamana considers him as the best among all the yoga teachers he knows.. I haven't read Ennio Nimis book myself though. But it is good that he has made everything free. I watched a couple of videos on that site.. You might be also interested in the book that I am talking about. Check out this thread:

Did you read 'Kriya Yoga exposed' book? The book has everything that you need to know about Kriya Yoga. One thing about Yoga is that it sells a lot. It has a good market potential because a lot of people want to learn Yoga more than any other spiritual path. Yoga is usually attractive for the ego. So, even in Quora, a question regarding anything on enlightenment may usually have 5-6 followers but questions regarding Kundalini awakening usually has up to 50 followers or more... So, many business minded people want to make use of this market potential and sell their version of yoga... So, make sure you are aware of that. Reading the book I recommended will certainly clarify many things to you. Because, the author of the book has a very deep knowledge in Yoga. Anyway, I will tell you about Mahasamadhi based on what I have read. I usually don't talk about things that I have only read or heard but couldn't verify for myself. But since you are so much interested, I will tell you what I know based on verbal testimonies alone. As per the definition of mahasamadhi, it is actually a very beautiful thing. When you want to die, you just drop dead without any damage to the body and without pain. You simply consciously leave the body, just like taking off your shirt. People usually take mahasamadhi when they are old enough to die. When you are very old and have lived your life fully, you can just die rather than waiting for death with a week body. There is nothing to be afraid of here. Instead of dying in a very old age after having your sons and daughters clean your shit everyday and handfeed you for months, you simply decide 'thats it, let me die' and you die! Is that not cool? There are only two choices here and mahasamadhi seems to be a better choice. But don't confuse this with something that Sadhguru is promoting, saying 'You will die during enlightenment'... Enlightenment is certainly a psychological death but not a physical death. But it may be as fearful as the physical death! You have to go through this fear. Spiritual path is all about courage. You need to have a lot of courage and self-honesty... And after enlightenment, you won't really bother about many things, including mahasamadhi.

Here is the Kalama Sutta of Buddhism which was composed many centuries before: "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions simply because they have been handed down for many generations. ... Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But when, after observation and analysis, you find anything that agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." – Buddha, Kalama Sutta And here is the modern version that I wrote Don't believe in anything simply because it is on the internet... Don't believe in anything simply because it has 1 million likes in social media... Don't believe in anything simply because it is said in a Youtube video.. But when, after observation and analysis, you find anything that agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

@egoless Quit this forum, don't read any other books and just listen only to Rupert Spira.. The more you spend time in listening to various people (especially those gurus with long beard), the more confused and frustrated you will become.. Nonduality has become a garbage-can where millions of people have thrown their own beliefs, interpretations, delusions and some claims based on selfish intentions.. Life is beautiful. Just enjoy and live the life totally, while practicing whatever Rupert Spira says.

@Monkey-man Read and understand each and every line here.. There is no hurry to reply. I can wait for eternity. But it is very important that you understand and take your time to consider certain things open-mindedly.. I have talked to people who are impressed by various authorities and follow them... And this is the first time I am talking to a person who bases what he says on Aurobindo. It is really interesting to meet you. When I say to people to not to blindly take everything the authority says, their immediate response would be "No, I am not just blindly following; I can think for myself.. I have experienced certain things myself"... This is the natural human response and I know that very well. The collection of various logical explanations, nuances and the sense of wonder that these books give you convinces you to accept these things gradually.. This has happened many times for me when I was too young. As I said, before, my only suggestion to you is 'Don't conclude anything yet'.. If you have read Paramhamsa Yogananda's book 'The Second coming of Christ' in which he claims that he got a direct communion with Christ, your opinion would be different and Paramhamsa Yogananda would be your authority. This is how authority bias works. I have read many books ever since I started to read in my childhood. And there is a huge list of mystics and saints who have written those books and talking about things like this. After seeing the clarity and the logical explanation, I have always found them very convincing. But when I noticed that many of the things are quite contradictory and completely different from each other, I decided to not to come to any conclusion about anything and simply keep exploring all the contradictory philosophies. After a lot of confusion, contemplation, suffering etc etc etc, I have found my home as a result of lifelong seeking. . And I know now that none of these things really matter. By the way, I have a question. I have heard that Aurubindo claimed that he will never die physically and he will resurrect just like Jesus did. But it never happened. Is this true?