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1.
Next Chapter in Guru Fatha's Yogi Bhajan Bio
Posted by: "Charles F." cfroh@yahoo.com cfroh
Mon Jul 10, 2006 9:34 am (PST)
published with blessing from Guru Fatha Singh Khalsa
<gurufathasingh@gmail.com >, who wrote:
MESSENGER FROM THE GURU'S HOUSE
Part One: Getting Here
***********************************************************************************************************************************
Fortune
Next to Harbhajan's village, there lived the family of a
building contractor. Once, that contractor and his family had lived
in a large house with many servants. Harbhajan still remembered
them. But now, they had no big house and no servants.
One day, Harbhajan, the village prince, came and visited
their humble new abode. He came and sat for a time with the
contractor's wife as she prepared dinner herself at the stove in her
dilapidated hut home. She had no flour and no vegetables, only some
salt. And in her couple of pots cooking on the stove, Harbhajan Singh
made out that there were only stones, nicely washed and shiny to give
any guest the impression there was food there, but they were only
stones. The only real food was the chapatis the woman obtained as
charity from the Gurdwara nearby.
Harbhajan did not let on that he saw the stones in her
cooking pots, but he asked, "Auntie, why did this happen to you?
Once you had a big, big house. Now you live here. What happened?"
The dignified woman of the house replied, "Nothing happened."
"Once you lived in a big, big house. Why don't you feel
upset?"
"When we were rich, we never gave to others. God is only
showing us the punishment of not giving when you have abundance."
And with those words, the kind woman gave little Harbhajan one of the
chapatis that she had been heating by the stove, with a little salt added.
After he had eaten, Harbhajan Singh returned to his
village and sought out his wise old grandfather. He told his
father's father, "I have just learned a very serious lesson."
"What lesson did you learn, ji?"
"Do you know that auntie who used to live in the big house
in the next village and now lives in that little hut?"
"Yes, I know the auntie."
"She cooks stones and makes dinner out of them. She
doesn't even have flour in her house. She gets chapatis from the
Gurdwara and serves them with great dignity. I thought she is being
punished for something she did wrong. I asked her why she does this,
and she said she is not worried because God is telling them when they
were rich, they did not give enough, they did not share with others."
"Is that true?"
"Grandpa, you can come with me. You can see."
"What is there to see?" Harbhajan Singh's grandfather
summoned his trusted servant and said to him, "You know the
contractor's family over in that village? For one year, all the
flour, all the lentils, all the ghee, all the oil, all the food
requirements must be dispatched today. And I am going to visit them
in a week." Then, as the trusted servant of the family was leaving
to fulfil Harbhajan's grandfather's wishes, Grandfather cried out to
him, "Wait, wait, wait! Make it two years."
The next week, Grandpa said to Harbhajan, "Let's go!
Let's go for a visit!"
This time, there was plenty of food in the contractor's
kitchen. And when they had nearly finished eating, Grandfather said
to the man of the house, "I have learned a lesson too. When you have
enough and you don't share, the same thing happens to everybody. I'm
not going to boil stones in my house. Here is money! Start your
business again. Stand up on your feet. It doesn't have any interest
and you have not to return it."
And so it was that slowly the family's fortunes picked up
again and they were restored to their former glory. But they never
forgot Harbhajan Singh. Whenever he visited again, he was given the
star treatment.
One time, Harbhajan protested, "Auntie, you know, I don't
deserve all this attention. I just asked Grandpa a question, but I
didn't do a thing."
The contractor's knowing wife replied, "No, God works
through his messengers. For us, you became the messenger. We
should always recognize and treat you fittingly with gratitude."
***********************************************************************************************************************************
A Dog Trick
Harbhajan enjoyed a good prank. One day, he and a friend
of his were near the village market. With them, was his friend's pet
dog. His friend complained to him that his dear, skinny pet had not
had any milk to drink for a long time.
Harbhajan thought a moment and replied, "Today he will
have milk. Watch!"
His friend looked and saw a man passing in the street,
swinging a bottle of milk in each hand. Harbhajan recognized from
the precise, mechanical motions of the gentleman that he was a retired
soldier. He called out in unison with the man's walking, "Hup, one,
two, three. Hup, one, two, three. Hup, one, two, three..."
His friend watched. It seemed vaguely interesting,
listening to Harbhajan and watching the rhythmic cadences of the
military man's steps. But how was his dog going to have milk to drink?
"Hup, one, two, three. Hup, one, two three. Hup, one,
two, three..."
Harbhajan's friend began to lose interest. After all...?
"Hup, one, two, three... TEN!-SHUNN!!! "
The veteran of so many parade drills could not help
himself. In no time at all, he had instinctively brought his arms to
his sides. His torso and legs had gone perfectly rigid, his hands
open, his fingers taut, ...and the milk crashing to the pavement.
One thirsty canine bounded to the military man's feet and gratefully
begun slopping up the spilled treasure, before the man could ever
realize what he had just done.
"See," Harbhajan winked at his friend.
***********************************************************************************************************************************
The Guru's Prescription
Harbhajan Singh's father, Kartar Singh Puri, was a
qualified medical doctor. Yet, when Harbhajan was seven years old and
very sick and all his medicines had proved useless, he brought his
ailing son to Amritsar for his saintly father's blessing. Bhai Fateh
Singhji said to him, "Kartar, have you not learned that you are in
Amritsar, and the House of Guru Ram Das is here? Why don't you go and
get a blessing from Guru Ram Das? Why do you have to come running to
me?"
Harbhajan Singh's father went to the roof of the house
and, facing the light of the Golden Temple , said to Guru Ram Das, "If
a man loses one eye, with one he can still do a lot. But when one
loses both eyes, it becomes very difficult. I have lost one of my
sons. A second is on the death bed. It happens to me that I am in
your house. If his life be spared, I shall recite Sukhmani every day
in gratitude for that."
When he returned to downstairs, his son asked, "Papaji,
have you no medicine which can cure me?" He had to reply that he had
nothing. Then his son said to him, "Guru Ram Das has appeared to me,
and he has told me what can cure my sickness. If your medicine has
all been tried, then you should give me the medicine which I suggest.
Let me drink the juice of two onions and let an onion be fried in
oil and that oil, when it is just warm, should be dropped into my
ear."
Through the Grace of Guru Ram Das, by the next morning,
the doctor's ailing son was cured. By his father's grace, Harbhajan
Singh was blessed to have the sacred Sukhmani said on his behalf each
day from then until Doctor Kartar Singh breathed his last in 1985.
***********************************************************************************************************************************
The Bell
Harbhajan Singh was a rebel, but he was a good rebel. At
the Catholic school he attended, he had gained the respect of the
Mother Superior, even though he did not always obey the rules.
Once he was called before the Mother Superior for
punishment. She loved him very much, and when she saw him, she could
only say, "Bhajan, again?"
"Yes, Mother."
"What did you do this time?" Harbhajan was in the line
with the others who were going to receive punishment, which was being
hit on the buttocks. She would intervene and let him go free every
time, but this time she wanted to know what had happened.
"I didn't go to chapel."
"O my God! Now this is between you and Jesus Christ. I
can't help." Normally, she would have simply said "Let him go."
"Yes, I know this is between me and Christ, so I'll defend
myself this time." He went to face the Sister who had accused him.
She said, "You didn't come to chapel. Where were you?"
"I was outside my room, sitting on the bench."
"What were you doing on the bench?"
"I was meditating."
"What were you meditating on?"
"On the bell."
"Which bell?"
"The chapel bell."
"Why were you meditating on the chapel bell?"
"Are you crazy? What do you ring the bell for? Isn't it a divine
message?"
"Yes."
"And so I was listening to it, calmly and peacefully."
"But that bell means you should come."
"That may be for you, lady. For me, when the bell rings, that's it.
I cannot move. If you want me in chapel on time, then stop ringing
that bell. This is not going to be decided by hitting my buttocks.
Are you crazy? Why are you going to hit me? Did I hit you? Is that
what Jesus Christ taught you, to hit people? Are you going to hit me
in the name of Christ? Are you?"
"No, no, I am not going to hit you."
"Then why did you call me here?"
"I wanted to know."
"What do you want to know? You don't know how to meditate? You do
not know what the bell means. All you know is what you know. I'm
telling you what I know."
"No, no, don't argue. You can go back to class."
"I am not going back!"
"What do you want?"
"I want a total exemption. When the bell rings, nobody should be
punished for whether or not they come to chapel."
Mother Superior, who had been listening to their exchange, then chimed
in, "Well, I think we can grant that. If people meditate, that is
all Christ said. We only want them in the chapel for meditation, so
that they can love Christ. We don't want to hit and hurt people. Let
Bhajan go."
***********************************************************************************************************************************
The Cycle of Life
One morning when Harbhajan Singh was eight years old, his
grandfather told him he would be returning that evening to take him
for an outing. The day passed in anticipation. Finally, it was
evening and grandpa had arrived home, so they set out together.
"Where are we going, grandpa?"
"Watch. You will see."
So they went and walked until they came to a kind of outdoor arena
that had been created outside the village. Sometimes there were
soccer or kabbadi matches there. This time, there were people all
around and some kind of commotion going on in the middle.
Harbhajan stretched his neck to see. His grandfather led him to a
spot on the raised embankment that defined the arena. From there,
they could make out most of everything that was going on.
From all the commotion, now they could see some of the men of the
village running around and around. They were chasing a big squealing
pig. The pig was running away and the men were running after it and
hitting it with sticks. The pig would run and they would hit it.
They would strike the pig and the pig would run, again and again.
There was no escape for the pig.
This went on for some time without any let up. The hitting would not
stop and the pig kept running to try and get away. There was
continuous hitting and running, squealing and running, with the crowd
laughing and yelling and shouting abuse at the pig. The pig was
bleeding now, but it did not stop at all.
Somehow, a bunch of men together caught the pig and picked it up.
Together, they managed to take it and carry it to a side of the arena
where a fire had been made and bright flames were licking the air.
Perhaps the pig was weakened from the loss of blood, because the four
men managed to bring it over to the fire without it squirming away.
But when they threw the squealing, frantic animal into the fire, it
bounced right out, a little singed, and the chase began all over again.
This must have gone on for another half hour, until finally the pig,
tired, bleeding, burnt and wounded, simply fell over and moved no
more. The contest was over. The men had won. The pig had lost.
Harbhajan Singh looked up at his grandfather. For all the frantic,
electric energy in the place, his grandfather was still a picture of
calm dispassion.
"You want to go now?"
"Yes, Grandpa. This was too much!"
They made their way out of the arena. The sun had almost
set and first stars were making their first, tentative appearances.
Harbhajan spoke again, "They were being so cruel!"
"They weren't being cruel," said his saintly grandpa.
"But you saw what they were doing! They were killing
that pig!"
"Yeah. They were."
"But why?"
"Well, Harbhajan, it is a long story, but that is why I
brought you here. You see, that pig was not always a pig. Once,
the soul of that pig had been living a different life, the life of a
man who lived in this village. He had been a Sikh like you and I."
Harbhajan Singh's grandfather paused for the words to sink in.
"He must have done something wrong."
"Yes, grandson. Our village had once been very united.
Everyone belonged to the Guru. Everyone was noble and prosperous.
But this fellow fell from grace and did lot of mischief in his life.
He created dissension and doubt and turned people against each other.
He divided the village."
"So he came back as a pig."
"Yes, he came back as the pig we were watching. He lived
his days in this village. Only this time he lived off the garbage
and leavings of the people of the village."
"Grandpa, what will happen to him next? What will become
of him in his next life?"
"Well, Harbhajan, you know he did some good in his life
too, and for that reason, I was reciting Japji for his soul as we
watched. With the Guru's grace, he will be born again in a Sikh home
in that village nearby."
Harbhajan was amazed and wonderstruck imagining the
transmigrating of that pig's soul into the body of a man. It was
hard for him to fall asleep that night.
The next morning, Harbhajan Singh asked his mother, "Do
you have a friend who lives in that village nearby us?"
"Yes, son. I do. Why do you ask?"
"Does she have any relation who is going to have a child?"
"I don't know. What are you thinking, son?"
"We should go there tomorrow. I want to see this auntie."
Though his mother resisted, finally her eldest son
convinced her to agree and the next day they went for a surprise visit
to her friend's house in the next village.
In conversation, it turned out that his mother's friend
did have a daughter-in-law carrying a child.
Seeing her, Harbhajan said, "All the women of the world
may turn out to be having daughters, but you definitely are going to
have a baby boy."
The lady was surprised and pleased. She asked Harbhajan
Singh, the child prodigy, to write it down and, to please her, he did.
A few months later, came the news that this particular
woman in the next village had indeed given birth and the child had
been a son. This time, Harbhajan Singh's mother was really curious.
How, she asked her son, did he come to know all this?
Harbhajan then proceeded to tell his mother all about the
evening he had spent with grandpa at the arena, about the pig the
people were torturing, and about what grandpa said when the body of
the pig was lifeless and dead.
His mother became pensive for a moment. A worry crossed
her mind. She didn't mind that her child was precocious, but�
"You'll never tell anyone this story that that boy used to be that
pig, will you?"
"But, mother, it is true. How can I tell a lie if
somebody asks me?"
"Still, it is not very nice, you know, and there are ways
of getting around the question. You can just say you don't know."
"I know, mother dear. I would never want to hurt
anyone's feelings. Still, it is interesting to know, and I do know.
I could never lie about it."
His mother frowned and shook her head. She decided
against arguing with her eldest, honest son.
As it happened, a few days later, a servant came from the
village of the new arrival and invited Harbhajan's family to come to a
thanksgiving gathering to be held in a couple of weeks. But
Harbhajan, the star guest, was not going to be in attendance. His
mother had shrewdly made arrangements for the entire family to go to a
different function in another village in the opposite direction that day.
***********************************************************************************************************************************
The Need Of A Teacher
As the eldest grandson of the head of the village, Harbhajan Singh
commanded the respect of the entire community. If, in fact, young
Harbhajan, the irrepressible rascal, ever went to the local bazaar and
noticed that someone did not salute him or show him due regard, he was
certain to take notice. It was not unusual for offenders to
afterwards find that a large boulder had somehow dislodged from the
top of the steep hillside overhanging the village, and wantonly
crashed into their home.
One day, his grandfather offered Harbhajan some sobering advice,
"Look. See how they bow to you as though you were a prince. If you
don't have the wisdom to keep them bowing, one day this head of yours
will be cut off.
"You need to find a teacher to give you a wisdom that will see you
through the coming years. In reality, a man is neither rich nor
poor, Bhajan. He either wants to learn, or he is stupid."
After a time, a qualified teacher was found for young
Harbhajan. Sant Hazara Singh was known for miles around. He could
recite the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib by heart. He was an
accomplished horseman and martial artist. He was also a master of
kundalini and white tantric yogas.
Santji taught a select group of aspiring young men. In
his unique and masterful way, he disciplined and polished and prepared
them for the duties of manhood. Santji did not suffer fools gladly.
Everyone knew that it was a privilege to be accepted as a student of
Sant Hazara Singh.
When Harbhajan, the favoured prince of his family's village, arrived
with his entourage of servants, luggage and horses, someone asked the
servant in charge, "Who are you with?"
"We have come with Baba," he replied.
"Oh, so you are his paraphernalia?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Pack up your stuff, and take his things, too!"
Left with hardly more than the clothes he was wearing, Harbhajan Singh
was taken to a bare-looking room like a cell and given a blanket.
"This is your room. This blanket is all you will have. Every day,
you will wash your own clothes. When you go to school, your uniform
will be ready. This is a special concession allowed to you for your
grandfather's sake. But remember, you must follow the law of this place!"
No one had ever spoken to Harbhajan like this before. Already, his
grandfather had warned him, "Don't trust him. Don't believe him.
Just listen to him. Obey him, and rely on your own angelic spirit."
Harbhajan thought to himself, "Wow! Let's see how far this goes."
When Santji met him for the first time, he told Harbhajan, "Hey, look,
you are the servant! There are no servants for you here!" Harbhajan
began his training with a shovel and an acrid bucket of lime. As the
newest student, he was assigned the latrine duty of the school.
Harbhajan the young aristocrat was not pleased. He was
enraged and his mind embarked on a silent tirade: "How many of this
kind of man can I buy? Thirty thousand? Sixty thousand? Who is he?
What is he telling me? I am going to sleep tonight on this bunk
bed? Is somebody going to sleep over me and pass wind? Is this
teaching? What am I going to learn here? To smell someone's wind and
look at the guy next to me, while God made me so beautiful and
elegant. I'm born in a good family. I have everything that I need.
What do I need these teachings for? And now I have to go and look
at the excrement of others, and I'm going to put this lime on it?
This is my first job? Who can I hire to do this? I can hire a whole
town for it, but what is this? Why did I come here? On no! And who
is this middle-aged puffy fellow? Who does he think he is? Why did
my grandfather tell me to go? What for? What am I doing here? This
man is totally rude and ridiculous!"
Harbhajan touched his forehead and felt that he was
sweating. He was not used to being so provoked. That Harbhajan,
the landlord's son, had allowed himself to be so riled in such short
order added a particular sting to his predicament. He took a breath
and managed to regain command of his emotions.
To himself, he said, "So be it. I'll prove that I can
stand all this. God has blessed me. This man is a living challenge
and I am going to win. Victory will be mine. Fateh!"
Harbhajan Singh fell into a very deep sleep that night.
Not even once did he turn in his bed. And the next morning, Harbhajan
was fresh and supple as the new day.
********************************************************************
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2.
Asana and the Architecture of Yoga Intensive with James Brown in DC
Posted by: "lcbdc1" lbrenowitz@gmail.com lcbdc1
Mon Jul 10, 2006 10:56 am (PST)
Teacher and Student Intensive w/ Yoga Works Instructor, James Brown.
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Breaking down the sun salutes and building standing poses from the
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Backbends and Inversions: Taking the Body in a New Direction, August
12, 1:30-3:30pm $35.
For more information, and to register online, visit
http://www.inspiredyoga.com/james.htm.
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4a.
Prana and Apana
Posted by: "sevaplace01" Krishna@SevaPlace.com sevaplace01
Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:55 pm (PST)
Sat Nam, Amar Atma Singh,
It's wonderful to hear you bring in travelers like Robert Anton
Wilson and Aleister Crowley. That's like playing the Rolling Stones
at a Beatles convention. Robert Anton Wilson is like a double shot
of espresso, compared with Perier. Aleister Crowley is more like a
four shot espresso americano, with brandy instead of vanilla (which
I'm not allowed to drink). I applaud your inviting them to the
party, however. I was moved in new and evolutionary directions in
my life in the early nineties, with the work of Robert Anton
Wilson's buddy, Antero Ali (from Seattle), while I was living at
Hargobind Sadan Ashram in Berzerkeley, California, and encountering
the Bay Area in all its myriad facets of power and pretense and
wonder. I still wonder about that place. (I'm getting to the
point).
One reason why we should extol Wilson, Crowley, Ali, all the pagans,
and all the indigenous shamanic cultures, is that they've committed
to mastering NOT ONLY Prana, but also they exercise deep honesty and
humility in the face of Prana's opposite, which they call "Shadow"
and which we Kundalini Yogis call Apana. Others call it "Death."
We have to live the full and complete cycle of Sa-Ta-Na-Ma (not just
the pretty parts) --1. (SA) Infinite Prana, 2. (TA) the fire of
Life, 3. (NA) the drowning waters of Death, and 4. (MA) the infinite
resurrecting, reincarnating, revitalizing powers of M.O.M. (the Adi
Shakti). Only then can we reach the all pervasive formless core of
everything, the fifth sound of the Panj Shabad, the vast resonance
of A-A-A-H as in Vahey Guroooo. So it's not all Beatles, and white
bread, and light. We have to deal with all that Yucky, Weird,
Frustrating, Confusing, Disorienting, Overwhelming, Inescapable
Experience called Death. It happens cyclically and predictably, at
the end of every breath, every day (fatigue), every year (winter),
life cycle (depression), and lifetime (when Death itself really
shows up). We get prana by holding the breath in and circulating at
the end of a breathing exercise. We experience Apana, and Death by
Exhaling and holding our breaths OUT. It even feels as though we're
going to die, and yes we would if we never breathed in again. It's
a cutting edge of getting in touch with ourselves. It's like
playing Sympathy for the Devil at a party, right after Sgt. Pepper.
And we all have to face it. Sadhana is cool, but "It's in the face
of Death that we must live it." Who's ready for that? (It's the
true post-graduate course for Yogis).
Patanjali maps this journey perfectly. The only problem with
Patanjali is that he was historically stuck with OM rather than Guru
Nanak's synthesis of Ek Ong Kar. If you substitute throughout
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras the term Ek Ong Kar wherever he says OM, and
substitute Akal Purkh wherever he says Purusha, and so on, with the
Gurmukhi Yogic equivalents to his Sanskrit terms, it's like
Einstein's transformation of Euclidean geometry into the Einsteinian
non-Euclidean universe, where Parallel Lines DO meet at Infinity,
and with this Sikh hybridization of the old brahmin Sanskrit text,
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras becomes a "cookbook" for journeying toward
the experience of enlightenment that Guru Nanak reveals to us in
Japji Sahib, when he experienced those three days on "The Other
Side." But if Death, Shadow, or Darkness bring up fear within us,
we haven't yet qualified ourselves for the journey. But fear is
based in ego, whereas giving our head neutralizes ego, and so the
path of Khalsa is one of the most legitimate portals into the true
Yoga of Self-Mastery. The ancient Maya also mastered the Beheading
Game in their creation scripture called the Popul Vuh, where the
Hero Twins liberate the world by their own mastering of Death.
Whereupon one of the twins became our Sun (Ra), the other became our
Moon (Ma), united (Ra-Ma) to preserve the divine order of Dharma in
the universe Ra-Ma Da-Sa, Guru.
And so I deeply appreciate your post. As we pursue the blisses of
Prana, let us not forget the ordeals of Apana. We must embrace them
both, as they go hand in hand in the cycles of test and self-
measurement for the truly evolving Yogi.
Right now, Mercury is in retrograde (July 4 to July 28). This is a
perfect time to celebrate the necessity for all our past ill-
conceived plans to go awry, in order to discard or improve them. As
things "go wrong" or "fall apart" as they MAY (I'm not hexing you)
over the next 3 weeks or so, smile, don't be shocked. Do your
practice. As weather patterns become impossible, practice flying on
radar with Japji Sahib as the Operating System of your navigational
computer, and the Sadhana Manual as your instruction set, and Sa-Ta-
Na-Ma as your map. All this to remember that after every Death
there is a Rebirth. The universe is having a bowel movement, and
this too will pass. Don't take it personally.
many Blessings,
Krishna Singh
***********************
--- In Kundalini-Yoga@yahoogroups.com, "Charles F." <cfroh@...>
wrote:
It's always cool when non-East sources support the lessons of yoga.
In "Prometheus Rising
http://fusionanomaly.net/prometheusrising.html)," by Robert Anton
Wilson, a book I recommend to all, apparently the
controversial "skeptical mystic" Alistair Crowley (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prometheus_Rising)
recommended "pranayam" as the most important healing technique a
human should do daily:
>
> My note: Didn't Yogi Bhajan recommend a daily practice as well as
the most important thing for a human to do? Yes, and he called it
"sadhana," which means daily practice. And all kundalini yoga works
on the breath and life force, which is what pranayama does.
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/673_1.cfm.
>
> Wahe guru,
> Amar Atma
> http://www.cfrohman.com
>
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4b.
Using Jaap Sahib to get through to August
Posted by: "Charles F." cfroh@yahoo.com cfroh
Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:19 pm (PST)
Krishna,
I'm sure I speak for the almost 400 members of our yahoo group when I
say, "wow," your post was just amazing. You are truly an eminent
statesman of our Aquarian movement. That was so well said. Keeping
in mind the role of "apana," as we follow Crowley's admonition that,
"pranayama is the purgative," that it is what turns commotion into
devotion, apana is really the focus. So often Yogi Bhajan said focus
on the exhale, letting go of the "eliminating" force of apana, and the
inhale (and hence prana) will come naturally with no effort.
Regarding your last paragraph suggesting Jaap Sahib to get through
this "retrograde Mercury time" until August, may I also suggest "Jaap
Sahib?" I do this because Sat Nirmal and others (with her husband
Daya playing it live at Solstice) have produced an incredible,
incredible version. Gurumukh may organize a special kriya with jaap
sahib here in D.C. soon, and I encourage all communities to plan a
get-together to experience this incredible CD.
While playing it, get on your knees, sitting up. With your hands in
venus lock behind you, inhale. As you exhale, bow. Continue for the
35 minutes of the CD, bowing in time with the shabad. THAT MEANS
QUICK BOWING, with every "namastang"! Remember when you bow,
connecting the 3rd eye with mother earth, you stimulate intuition -
key to prospering in this "5th circuit" (in the words of Wilson) time.
Your heart will EXPLODE with lusty connection with the infinite.
You'll smile with a sense of power, like you're in Guru Gobind Singh's
army of saintly protection. I can't describe in words how good I felt
the morning of Saturday at Summer Solstice, when they played this live
after sleeping all night under the Tantric shelter during the live
Rensabaih. Click here and click on "clips:"
http://www.spiritvoyage.com/shopping/detail_clips.cfm?PC=CDS-001650
excerpt from original email by Krishna:
...Right now, Mercury is in retrograde (July 4 to July 28). This is a
perfect time to celebrate the necessity for all our past ill-
conceived plans to go awry, in order to discard or improve them. As
things "go wrong" or "fall apart" as they MAY (I'm not hexing you)
over the next 3 weeks or so, smile, don't be shocked. Do your
practice. As weather patterns become impossible, practice flying on
radar with Japji Sahib as the Operating System of your navigational
computer, and the Sadhana Manual as your instruction set, and Sa-Ta-
Na-Ma as your map. All this to remember that after every Death
there is a Rebirth. The universe is having a bowel movement, and
this too will pass. Don't take it personally.
many Blessings,
Krishna Singh
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5.
Job Opportunity
Posted by: "panchnishan@sikhdharma.org" panchnishan@sikhdharma.org panchnishan
Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:22 pm (PST)
Sat Nam, We have the following Job open in Espanola NM, if you are
interested please contact me or if you know of anyone who might be
interested please pass this along to them. The current 2-year focus of
the Khalsa Council is 'Community Development; evolving our local/global
infrastructure and connecting yogic, dharmic, and Sat Nam Rasayan
Communities.' Khalsa Council is a body of esteemed Ministers and teachers
from all over the world who come together twice a year to vision and serve
the future of the Khalsa sovereign spiritual nation.
Khalsa Council Secretary
Job Description:
Preparation, delivery, and follow up of bi-annual Khalsa Council Meetings.
Oversees:
Meeting logistics
Event Staff and Volunteers
Financial aspects and budget
Registration process
Works in collaboration with a team for the delivery of meeting content.
Maintains the Khalsa Council membership including communication with
existing members and potential new members
Follow through with work generated from the Khalsa Council meetings.
Employee qualifications:
Ability to communicate clearly in written format
Ability to Manage:
The Event support staff
The Khalsa Council budget
Excellent organizational, communication, and phone skills
Good people/networking skills
Capable of initiating teamwork
Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously
Ability to handle sensitive information with a high degree of discretion
Possess basic proficiency in Excel, Word, and email usage
Previous experience as an event manager is a plus!
Salary and Benefits: Salary based on experience. Benefits.
Contact: Panch Nishan Kaur Khalsa panchnishan@sikhdharma.org (505)
367-1333
Blessings,
Panch Nishan Kaur
International Community Relations
505-367-1333
http://www.3ho.org/c/community
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6.
Navel Chakra and Meditative States
Posted by: "D h a r a m" pran--_--yogi@sahej.com pranasaurus
Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:32 pm (PST)
THE NAVEL CHAKRA AND MEDITATIVE STATES
<>
The navel is the center for the navel chakra. The navel chakra is a
spinning vortex of energy that transforms the finer pranic forces into
frequencies of energy that relate to the physical body and certain
qualities of the mind that are essential for mental health.
The navel chakra is well known as the center of physical well being.
Intuitively each of us knows that it is a source of energy. In our
prenatal stage, we were fed at the navel point. It was our lifeline and
major center of energy and cleansing. As adults, we still have that
connection, but etherically. As discussed above, if this center is even
slightly mal aligned, the body manifests many symptoms and becomes
susceptible to illness. If this center is strong problems such as
weakness of character, lack of nerve strength or premature old age need
no longer be contended with. This is well known by the practitioners of
martial arts. Without a strong navel point you are easily defeated at
the whim of a good opponent. It is from this center that the "chi" or
prana is drawn and put into a good punch. If the navel center is strong
enough, the opponents punches cannot physically harm you. In later
life, the lack of alignment at the navel can manifest as brain and organ
failure or even as cancer.
The psychological implications of the navel chakra are less well known.
A person who has a developed navel center that is blocked from
transforming energy to the heart chakra will show great greed. His
greediness will be excessive in all parts of the personality. He will
want to label all things around him as belonging to him. He will sustain
sexual relations not for any pleasure or desire for the partner, but to
insure that no other person uses his possession. He will experience
greed for greed's sake. Compassion and human values will be used only if
means further recognition which will give more people and objects. This
level of living and perception is not uncommon in the world.
The navel chakra is one of three in the "lower triangle" of chakras: the
rectum (muladhara), the sex organs (svadhistana), and the navel (nabhi
chakra). All imbalances of the mind and alterations of human behavior
reflect some imbalance in this triangle of energy centers. The navel
chakra is extremely important in transforming these imbalances. The
solar plexus charges the Kundalini energy at the navel canter to descend
to the first chakra at the rectum. If mulabandha and mahabandha are
mastered and a bij mantra is put into the subconscious, the energy of
the Kundalini awakens and travels up the lower triangle past the sex
organs, and breaks through a block at the navel center. The energy then
gives man a universal and balanced personality which some call
enlightenment. For this process to happen the navel center must be
strong and its energy balanced with that of the higher centers.
As the navel chakra develops in balance with the other chakras, the
personality traits associated with it change. The greediness to create
for himself is replaced with an expanded capacity for organization and
business. The need for gathering possessions turns into a capacity to
generate for others. The power of personal projection becomes enormous.
Many people are blocked at this chakra. Much psychology and therapy
comes to a befuddled stop when the navel energy is not being transformed
along with certain stages of personality or character change. Without
transforming that energy, all the words and suggestions of a counselor
are understood in a context of power and gain. No effort will penetrate
the consciousness and reality of the person. Without a flow of navel
energy, without the ability to generate and release the energy, a person
clings to his self-conceived reality and will not be open to any outside
view. If the chakra is developed and balanced, no outside view can stand
his scrutiny. He can penetrate the reality of any other person.
The navel chakra is associated with the element 'fire'. It generates
heat and regulated digestion. "Fire burns all things to ash. It purifies
all things into the vapor of the air." On the negative side, it can
destroy everything. With positive development, it sublimates everything.
In proper balance, it can be a source of warmth; but it can be a source
of burn and injury if unregulated. If the fire is strong, bad habits can
be burned in it. So a strong navel chakra gives the ability to break and
create habits.
A strong balanced nabhi chakra gives the power to maintain a course of
action. Often you will know someone who just can't stay on a diet or who
can't focus the mind on anything for long, or who would love to do those
things but never does. The power to sustain an effort is missing. If an
effort is sustained, it becomes a habit. As a habit, it sustains itself.
The navel energy is necessary to easily initiate self-sustaining actions.
Meditation can be described many ways. For this discussion, meditation
is a process that produces a temporary alteration of the thought flow,
consciousness, and identity of a person. We practice a meditation to
create a subconscious habit pattern of thought, feeling and behavior.
Different meditations produce different alterations of the brain and
open up different abilities. To sustain the effect of a meditation,
integrate it into the personality and speed its assimilation, the navel
chakra energy must be strong and fluid. Without the navel energy, you
can meditate for years and not have the effect you can get in three days
with the navel energy. This is one of the basic reasons why nabhi kriyas
and exercises such as sat kriya are always taught first in the advanced
forms of yoga. Then progress is rapid and consolidation of the effects
in the personality is guaranteed.
To improve the depth and quality of meditation, practice a nabhi kriya
before beginning. The navel kriya will give voltage and power to the
meditation. The focus, mantra, and posture will add direction and
quality to the meditation. The channels called the silver and golden
cords, run from the base of the spine to the pituitary gland and finally
to the pineal gland. This channel needs to be open and strong for deep
meditation. The cord can be stimulated and cleared by first letting the
solar plexus charge the navel energy and drawing that energy chakra by
chakra along the cord and out the top of the skull. An example of this
technique is to do the nabhi-kriya (in this issue), followed by the Raja
Yoga Meditation in KRI JOURNAL volume 1, issue 4-5, page 54. Alternating
the focus from the navel chakra through the spine to the pineal gland
will improve all your meditation practices
(from Kundalini Meditation Manual for Intermediate Students)
( for the complete file go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kundaliniyoga/files )
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7.
Help for translation
Posted by: "Andrea" webbies@excite.it andrea260272
Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:06 pm (PST)
Sat Nam!
I'm here asking for your help about two words i'm not able to
understand (i'd like to know english better).
I've found a quote where there are some differences between "renunciate
yogis" and "householder yogis".
I suppose "renunciate yogis" are those yogis detached from daily life
(ascetic ones), am i right?
...and, what is a "householder yogi"?
Can you explain me the meaning of the word "houseolder"?
Thank you all in advance :-)
AC Sujan Singh
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8.
Golf Classic
Posted by: "ardaskauraz" ardaskauraz@yahoo.com ardaskauraz
Tue Jul 11, 2006 3:09 am (PST)
Join us with a group of golf lovers
In the Land of Enchantment
Amar Infinity Foundation's
YogiJi Memorial Golf Classic
Friday, August 25, 2006
Practice Range 6:30 am
Shotgun start 8:00 am
Towa Golf Resort
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Come and join the fun!
Play this beautiful course
Designed by Hale Irwin
Situated in beautiful Northern New Mexico
Enjoy the scenery, the weather, the fun with a group of charitable golfers
We hope that you will be able to attend.
We look forward to hearing back from you:
Amar Infinity Foundation
2025 N 3rd St. Suite B-165
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Tel: (602)257-0077
Fax: (602)257-0078
Email: golf@amarinfinity.org
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