Buck Edwards

My Spiritual Practices

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From the book of Tantra 

Page 60 —

Your body is part of the universe. Everything in the body is part of the universe — every particle, every cell. It is the nearest approach to the universe. Breath is the bridge. If the bridge is broken, you are no more in the body. If the bridge is broken, you are no more in the universe. You move into some unknown dimension; then you cannot be found in space and time. So, thirdly, breath is also the bridge between you, and space and time.

Breath, therefore, becomes very significant — the most significant thing. So the first nine techniques are concerned with breath. If you can do something with the breath, you will suddenly turn to the present. If you can do something with breath, you will attain to the source of life. If you can do something with breath, you can transcend time and space. If you can do something with breath, you will be in the world and also beyond it.

Breath has two points. One is where it touches the body and the universe, and another is where it touches you and that which transcends the universe. We know only one part of the breath. When it moves into the universe, into the body, we know it. But it is always moving from the body to the “no-body,” from the “no-body” to the body. We do not know the other point. If you become aware of the other point, the other part of the bridge, the other pole of the bridge, suddenly you will be transformed, transplanted into a different dimension.

But remember, what Shiva is going to say is not Yoga, it is Tantra. Yoga also works on breath, but the work of Yoga and Tantra is basically different. Yoga tries to systematize breathing. If you systematize your breathing your health will improve. If you systematize your breathing, if you know the secrets of breathing, your life will become longer; you will be more healthy and you will live longer. You will be more strong, more filled with energy, more vital, alive, young, fresh.

But Tantra is not concerned with that. Tantra is concerned not with any systematization of breath, but with using breath just as a technique to turn inward. One has not to practice a particular style of breathing, a particular system of breathing or a particular rhythm of breathing — no! One has to take breathing as it is. One has just to become aware of certain points in the breathing.


Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Watch the gap between two breaths Shiva replies:

Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths. After breath comes in (down) and just before turning up (out) — the beneficence.

That is the technique:

Radiant one, this experience may dawn between two breaths.

 

After breath comes in — that is, down — and just before turning out — that is, going up — the beneficence. Be aware between these two points, and the happening. When your breath comes in, observe. For a single moment, or a thousandth part of a moment, there is no breathing — before it turns up, before it turns outward. One breath comes in; then there is a certain point and breathing stops. Then the breathing goes out. When the breath goes out, then again for a single moment, or a part of a moment, breathing stops. Then breathing comes in.

Before the breath is turning in or turning out, there is a moment when you are not breathing. In that moment the happening is possible, because when you are not breathing you are not in the world. Understand this: when you are not breathing you are dead; you are still, but dead. But the moment is of such a short duration that you never observe it.

For Tantra, each outgoing breath is a death and each new breath is a rebirth. Breath coming in is rebirth; breath going out is death. The outgoing breath is synonymous with death; the incoming breath is synonymous with life. So with each breath you are dying and being reborn. The gap between the two is of a very short duration, but keen, sincere observation and attention will make you feel the gap. If you can feel the gap, Shiva says, the beneficence. Then nothing else is needed. You are blessed, you have known; the thing has happened.

You are not to train the breath. Leave it just as it is. Why such a simple technique? It looks so simple. Such a simple technique to know the truth? To know the truth means to know that which is neither born nor dies, to know that eternal element which is always.


Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Buddha tried particularly to use this method, so this method has become a Buddhist method. In Buddhist terminology it is known as Anapanasati Yoga. And Buddha’s enlightenment was based on this technique — only this.

All the religions of the world, all the seers of the world, have reached through some technique or other, and all those techniques will be in these one hundred and twelve techniques. This first one is a Buddhist technique. It has become known in the world as a Buddhist technique because Buddha attained his enlightenment through this technique.

Buddha said, “Be aware of your breath as it is coming in, going out — coming in, going out.” He never mentions the gap because there is no need. Buddha thought and felt that if you become concerned with the gap, the gap between two breaths, that concern may disturb your awareness. So he simply said, “Be aware. When the breath is going in move with it, and when the breath is going out move with it. Do simply this: going in, going out, with the breath.” He never says anything about the latter part of the technique.

 

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If I say to you, “Observe this flower; observe this flower which I give to you,” you cannot observe it. For a single moment you will see it, and then you will begin to think of something else. It may be about the flower, but it will not be the flower. You may think about the flower, about how beautiful it is — then you have moved. Now the flower is no more in your observation, your field has changed. You may say that it is red, it is blue, it is white... then you have moved. Observation means remaining with no word, with no verbalization, with no bubbling inside — just remaining with. If you can remain with a flower for three minutes, completely, with no movement of the mind, the thing will happen — the beneficence. You will realize.

But we are not at all observers. We are not aware, we are not alert; we cannot pay attention to anything. We just go on jumping. This is part of our heritage, our monkey heritage. Our mind is just the growth of the monkey mind, so the monkey moves on. He goes on jumping from here to there. The monkey cannot sit still. That is why Buddha insisted so much on just sitting without any movement, because then the monkey mind is not allowed to go on its way.

In Japan they have a particular type of meditation which they call Zazen. The word zazen in Japan means just sitting, doing nothing. No movement is allowed. One is just sitting like a statue — dead, not moving at all

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Page 71 —

Because you are afraid of being total, you breathe shallowly. You breathe just at the minimum, not at the maximum. That is why life seems so lifeless. If you are breathing at the minimum, life will become lifeless; you are living at the minimum, not at the maximum. You can live at the maximum — then life is an overflowing. But then there will be difficulty. You cannot be a husband, you cannot be a wife, if life is overflowing. Everything will become difficult.

If life is overflowing, love will be overflowing. Then you cannot stick to one. Then you will be flowing all over; all dimensions will be filled by you. And then the mind feels danger, so it is better not to be alive. The more you are dead, the more you are secure. The more you are dead, the more everything is in control. You can control; then you remain the master. You feel that you are the master because you can control. You can control your anger, you can control your love, you can control everything. But this controlling is possible only at the minimum level of your energy.

Everyone must have felt at some time or other that there are moments when he suddenly changes from the minimum level to the maximum. You go out to a hill station. Suddenly you are out of the city and the prison of it. You feel free. The sky is vast, and the forest is green, and the height touches the clouds. Suddenly you take a deep breath. You may not have observed it.

Now if you go to a hill station, observe. It is not really the hill station that makes the change. It is your breathing. You take a deep breath. You say, “Ah! Ah!” You touch the center, you become total for a moment, and everything is bliss. That bliss is not coming from the hill station, that bliss is coming from your center — you have touched it suddenly.

You were afraid in the city. Everywhere there were others present and you were controlling. You could not scream, you could not laugh. What a misfortune! You could not sing on the street and dance. You were afraid — a policeman was somewhere around the corner, or the priest or the judge or the politician or the moralist. Someone was just around the corner, so you could not just dance in the street.

Bertrand Russell has said somewhere, “I love civilization, but we have achieved civilization at a very great cost.” You cannot dance in the streets, but you go to a hill station and suddenly you can dance. You are alone with the sky, and the sky is not an imprisonment. 

. Suddenly you take a breath deeply, it touches the center and the bliss. But it is not so for long. Within an hour or two, the hill station will disappear. You may be there, but the hill station will disappear.

Your worries will come back. You will begin to think to make a call to the city, to write a letter to your wife, or you will begin to think that since after three days you are going back you should make arrangements. You have just reached and you are making arrangements to leave. You are back.

That breath was not from you really; it suddenly happened. Because of the change of situation the gear changed. You were in a new situation, you could not breathe in the old way, so for a moment a new breath came in. It touched the center, and you felt the bliss.

Shiva says you are every moment touching the center, or if you are not touching you can touch it. Take deep, slow breaths. Touch the center; do not breathe from the chest — that is a trick. Civilization, education, morality, they have created shallow breathing. It will be good to go deep into the center, because otherwise you cannot take deep breaths.

Unless humanity becomes non-suppressive toward sex, man cannot breathe really. If the breath goes deep down to the abdomen, it gives energy to the sex center. It touches the sex center; it massages the sex center from within. The sex center becomes more active, more alive. Civilization is afraid of sex. We do not allow our children to touch their sex centers, their sex organs. We say, “Stop! Don’t touch!”

Look at a child when he first touches his sex center, and then say “Stop!” and then observe his breathing. When you say “Stop! Don’t touch your sex center!” the breath will become shallow immediately — because it is not only his hand which is touching the sex center, deep down the breath is touching it. And if the breath goes on touching it, it is difficult to stop the hand. If the hand stops, then basically it is necessary, required, that the breath should not touch, should not go deep. It must remain shallow.

We are afraid of sex. The lower part of the body is not only lower physically, it has become lower as a value. It is condemned as “lower.” So do not go deep, just remain shallow. It is unfortunate that we can only breathe downwards. 

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You were appreciating the master and you were feeling good, and you were thinking, “Now the master must be pleased.” And suddenly he takes his staff and begins to beat you — and mercilessly, because Zen masters are merciless. He begins to beat you; you cannot understand what is happening. The mind stops, there is a pause. If you know the technique, you can attain to your self.

There are many stories that someone attained buddhahood because the teacher suddenly started beating him. You cannot understand it — what nonsense! How can one attain buddhahood by being beaten by someone, or by being thrown out of the window by someone? Even if someone kills you, you cannot attain buddhahood. But if you understand this technique, then it becomes easy to understand.

In the West particularly, in the last thirty or forty years Zen has become very much prevalent — a fashion. But unless they know this technique, they cannot understand Zen. They can imitate it, but imitation is of no use. Rather, it is dangerous. These are not things to be imitated.

The whole Zen technique is based on the fourth technique of Shiva. But this is unfortunate. Now we will have to import Zen from Japan because we have lost the whole tradition; we do not know it. Shiva was the expert par excellence of this method. When he came to marry Devi with his barat, his procession, the whole city must have felt the pause... the whole city!

Devi’s father was not willing to marry his girl to this “hippie” — Shiva was the original hippie. Devi’s father was totally against him, and no father would permit this marriage. So we cannot say anything against Devi’s father. No father would permit his daughter’s marriage to Shiva. But Devi insisted so he had to agree — unwillingly, unhappily, but he agreed.

 

Then came the marriage procession. It is said that people began to run, seeing Shiva and his procession. The whole barat must have taken LSD,

 

 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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If I say to you, “Observe this flower; observe this flower which I give to you,” you cannot observe it. For a single moment you will see it, and then you will begin to think of something else. It may be about the flower, but it will not be the flower. You may think about the flower, about how beautiful it is — then you have moved. Now the flower is no more in your observation, your field has changed. You may say that it is red, it is blue, it is white... then you have moved. Observation means remaining with no word, with no verbalization, with no bubbling inside — just remaining with. If you can remain with a flower for three minutes, completely, with no movement of the mind, the thing will happen — the beneficence. You will realize.

 

But we are not at all observers. We are not aware, we are not alert; we cannot pay attention to anything. We just go on jumping. This is part of our heritage, our monkey heritage. Our mind is just the growth of the monkey mind, so the monkey moves on. He goes on jumping from here to there. The monkey cannot sit still. That is why Buddha insisted so much on just sitting without any movement, because then the monkey mind is not allowed to go on its way.

In Japan they have a particular type of meditation which they call Zazen. The word zazen in Japan means just sitting, doing nothing. No movement is allowed. One is just sitting like a statue — dead, not moving at all


Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

Now the 112 techniques of the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. 

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  1. Focus on the starting points of your breath.
  2. Concentrate on the moments between breathing in and out.
  3. When the breath doesn't move in or out, enlightenment emerges.
  4. Breathe in fully, hold it, then exhale completely and pause.
  5. Visualize energy, like sunlight, moving from the base chakra to the crown.
  6. Ponder on the electric-like energy ascending through the chakras.
  7. Reflect on the Sanskrit vowels, first as characters, then sounds, and finally as deep sensations.
  8. Direct breath-energy to the top of your mouth, then guide it to the space between your eyebrows.
  9. Visualize the five hues of a peacock feather, representing the emptiness of the senses.
  10. Whenever you're conscious of something, immerse yourself in that consciousness.
  11. With eyes shut, direct your focus inside your head.
  12. Reflect on the emptiness within the central spinal channel.
  13. Using a specific hand gesture, focus on a point in the forehead until it fades, leading to a supreme state.
  14. Reflect on a mark or the end point of the hair bun on your head.
  15. Tune into the silent sound, continuous like a flowing river.
  16. Chant the sacred sound (ॐ) and focus on the silence that follows.
  17. While chanting any mantra, focus on the silence before and after its pronunciation.
  18. Listen intently to the continuous notes of musical instruments.
  19. Chant seed mantras and immerse in their resonance.
  20. Reflect on the vast emptiness in all directions.
  21. Ponder on the emptiness above and below.
  22. Reflect on the void above, below, and within your heart.
  23. Visualize your body as entirely hollow.
  24. If immediate contemplation on emptiness is challenging, consider the body's components as filled with void.
  25. Visualize your skin as an external barrier with nothing substantial inside.
  26. Reflect on the vast space within your heart.
  27. Focus on any of these centers: navel, heart, throat, forehead, or crown.
  28. Continuously concentrate on the aforementioned centers.
  29. Visualize your body being consumed by a fire starting from your right foot.
  30. Imagine the whole world engulfed in flames.
  31. Reflect on the body and world's elements dissolving into their essence.
  32. After refining your breath through specific practices, focus on that energy at the breath's starting points.
  33. Reflect on the universe's evolution, then deconstruct it from tangible to intangible.
  34. Ponder on your inner self.
  35. Visualize the universe as an empty expanse.
  36. Focus on the space inside an object, ignoring its boundaries.
  37. Gaze upon an open area devoid of trees or structures.
  38. Recognize the interval between two thoughts.
  39. When one thought ends, prevent the mind from jumping to another.
  40. Reflect on the entire body and universe as manifestations of consciousness.
  41. Concentrate on the merging of inhalation and exhalation.
  42. Visualize the universe and body as filled with joy.
  43. Reflect on the joy experienced during magical moments.
  44. Using a specific hand gesture, focus on the sensation as energy ascends the central channel.
  45. Focus on the sensation between the expansion and contraction of a nerve cluster near the base.
  46. During intimacy, immerse in the pleasure and the peak of joy.
  47. Even in solitude, relish the joy reminiscent of intimacy.
  48. Relish the joy of reuniting with a long-lost friend.
  49. Savor the pleasure derived from delicious food and drink.
  50. Delight in the joy evoked by music and similar experiences.
  51. Direct your attention to where you find peace.
  52. Focus on the state transitioning from wakefulness to sleep.
  53. Gaze upon the rays emanating from luminous sources.
  54. Engage in specific postures and gestures.
  55. Sit unevenly, with one side elevated, and relax your limbs.
  56. Sit comfortably, arching your arms overhead, and look into your armpits.
  57. Fixate on an object and then turn your attention inward.
  58. Touch the roof of your mouth with your tongue and produce a silent 'haa' sound.
  59. Whether seated or lying down, visualize being unsupported.
  60. Sway your body rhythmically.
  61. Direct your gaze to the clear, cloudless sky.
  62. Visualize the vastness of space within your head.
  63. Recognize the three states of consciousness and the fourth that transcends them.
  64. Focus on the darkness during a moonless night.
  65. With eyes shut, concentrate on the internal darkness.
  66. Block one of your senses.
  67. Chant the letter अ without additional sounds.
  68. At the end of a chant, focus on the silence of a letter.
  69. Reflect on the infinite space in every direction as your essence.
  70. Pierce a part of your body and concentrate on that spot.
  71. Reflect, "Inside me, there's no mind."
  72. Understand each element in its true essence.
  73. When a desire emerges, dismiss it instantly.
  74. Reflect on the question, "Who am I?"
  75. When knowledge or desire surfaces, immerse in it.
  76. Understand, "From an absolute perspective, all knowledge is baseless and deceptive. In truth, knowledge isn't owned by anyone."
  77. Recognize everything as the same consciousness.
  78. Stay focused amidst emotions like desire, anger, or envy.
  79. Visualize existence as a magical display.
  80. Neither focus on pain nor pleasure; stay neutral.
  81. Detaching from the body, believe, "I am omnipresent."
  82. Understand, "Knowledge and desires emerge both within me and outside."
  83. Leaving your body aside, believe your consciousness exists in others.
  84. Free your mind from all anchors.
  85. Firmly believe, "I am divine, omnipresent, and all-powerful."
  86. Reflect, "Just as waves arise from water, everything in the universe emerges from the divine."
  87. Spin your body until exhaustion, then remain still.
  88. Stare at something without blinking.
  89. Blocking certain openings, tune into the silent sound.
  90. Gaze into the depths of a well.
  91. Reflect, "Wherever the mind wanders, the divine is present. Where can the mind escape to?"
  92. Reflect on the consciousness of sensory organs as universal awareness.
  93. In moments of intense emotions or sensations, recognize the state akin to enlightenment.
  94. Gazing upon a vast landscape, let go of all memories and feel weightless.
  95. Stare at an object, gradually withdraw your gaze, and erase its memory.
  96. Continuously reflect on the profound emotion arising from deep devotion.
  97. When an object is perceived, focus on the emptiness it creates for other objects.
  98. When the mind is calm, enlightenment is near.
  99. Understand, "The divine is evident everywhere, even in the ordinary. Nothing else exists."
  100. With the belief that the divine is omnipresent, remain neutral in all situations.
  101. Neither be attached nor repelled by anything.
  102. Reflect, "That which is beyond comprehension, void, and omnipresent is the divine."
  103. Focus on the vast outer space.
  104. Wherever the mind wanders, redirect it, ensuring it remains anchorless.
  105. Continuously chant the mantra representing the divine.
  106. Reflect on concepts like "I exist, this belongs to me."
  107. Continuously chant, "Eternal, omnipresent, without support, master of all."
  108. Believe, "The universe is an illusion, like a magical display."
  109. Reflect, "In the unchangeable self, how can knowledge or activity exist? The external world relies on knowledge, making it void."
  110. Reflect, "The universe is like a reflection, without any true essence."
  111. Distance yourself from sensory experiences.
  112. Knowledge unveils everything. Recognize the observer and the observed as one.

 

 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

 

  • Neem Karoli Baba 
  • Osho 
  • Sadhguru
  • Mahavtar Babaji 
  • Ramana Maharishi 
  • Alan Watts 
  • Sri Anandamayi Ma 
  • Swami Purnanda Bharti 
  • Paramahamsa Vishwananda
  • Chidakasha Geeta
  •  

 

 

Both contemporary and old spiritual Gurus. 

 

 

 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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I want to dance like that in total bliss. 

 


Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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  • Spiritual gurus 
  • Spiritual principles 
  • Spiritual Practices
  • Spiritual Books 
  • Spiritual texts
  • Spiritual mantras 
  • Spiritual ambience 
  • Spiritual YouTube Creators 
  • Spiritual Videos 
  • Spiritual Activities
  • Spiritual Vibes 
  • Spiritual Rituals
  • Sacred stuff 
  • Spiritual Nuggets 
  • Spiritual Realizations
  • Spiritual Discussions

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Posted (edited)

Spiritual people 

 

  • Swami Sivananda Saraswati 
  • Vishwānanda Saraswati
  • Swami Satchidananda Saraswati
  • Tapovan Maharaj
  • Swami Vivekananda
  • Chinmayananda Saraswati
  • Satyananda Saraswati
  • Osho Rajneesh (Osho) 
  • Sadhguru 
  • His Holiness The Dalai Lama 
  • Swami Sarvapriyananda
  • Swami Mukundananda
  • Kripalu Maharaj
  • Gauranga Das
  • Radhanath Swami
  • Gaur Gopal Das
  • Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
  • Ramana Maharshi
  • Sri Anandamayi Ma 
  • Nisargadatta Maharaj
  • Siddharameshwar (Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj) 
  • Shri Ramakant Maharaj 
  • Neem Karoli Baba 
  • Mahavtar Babaji
  • Ramana Maharishi 
  • Sri Anandamayi Ma 
  • Swami Purnanda Bharti 
  • Paramahamsa Vishwananda
  • Paramahamsa Yogananda 
  • Chidakasha Geeta
  • Adi Shankaracharya 
  • Swami Chidananda 
  • Maa Gyaan Suveera 
  • Deepak Chopra 
  • Yogiraj SatGurunath Siddhanath 
  • Guru Pashupati 
  • Himalayan Siddhaa Akshar 
  • SRI M
  •  

 

 

 

 

Philosophies or Schools of Thought 

  • Achintya Bheda Abheda 
  • Vajrayana Buddhism 
  • Aghora 
  • Tantra 
  • Yoga
  • Bhakti 
  • Advaita Vedanta 

 

 

Other spiritual people 

  • Alan Watts
  • John Richards
  • Rajarshi Nandy 
  • Dr Vineet Aggarwal 
  • Adyashanti
  • Matt Kahn
  •  

 

 

Strotam 

Dakshinamurti Stotram. 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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This was my favorite channel. 

Spiritual Renaissance 

https://youtu.be/prYyR-9zZSk?si=jYaMmk7_Ato1O_SE

 

Andre Duqum

https://youtu.be/OEfBfw-Wy74?si=4AyGDrJ-jigEfi9Y

 

Nandhiji 

https://youtu.be/w_K3bZH7Hf4?si=mub_ygyA9VzbdhGc

 

 

ArshaBodha - Swami Tadatmananda

https://youtu.be/mNzlaAIKAzc?si=lQLvQTBX78kE5o_A

 

 

Vedanta Society of New York 

https://youtu.be/_DMJBsOnK44?si=VBJqHCgAYaKy_qq1

 

 

Solace Owl 

https://youtu.be/YWLDsF0zdC8?si=Y_rj5ZQdsF5U3rrV

 

 

https://youtu.be/YWLDsF0zdC8?si=G8qnWomFd-nVRHoQ

 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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 I'm so lucky. That is all I should focus on. Balance and natural flow. 


Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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I'll have to divide these resources into  5 categories 

  • Spiritual
  • Psychology and Mental 
  • Mind and Motivation 
  • Healing 
  • Human Studies 

 

Edited by Buck Edwards

Gender-female. Call me Victoria. 

 

 

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