Meditation Archives

Practical Advise on Learning the Kriya Yoga Methods

To someone who wrote describing his experiences in meditation and who was practicing Kriya Yoga from an ebook he had purchased. The evaluation of meditation experiences is very tricky, because it depends on the meditator’s karma, any past life experience of esoteric development, and the … Continue reading

How You Can Overcome Negativity by an Effective Positive Attitude

Part 3 of Demons and Dunces (See Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.)

Positive attitude

Always remember that the positive expels the negative and do not fear or feel animosity for the spirits, for fear and hatred attract evil. Many of the exorcism prayers for both Eastern and Western Christianity are ridiculously negative and even hateful, and can prolong the disturbance and even guarantee its continuation.

Furthermore, a psychotic individual pretending to be possessed by spirits and undergoing such exorcism is capable of producing all kinds of phenomena that read like the best of horror stories. I have witnessed this nonsense myself. Here, too, sincerity on the part of the exorcist is no safeguard.

Blessing

Blessing is usually the best form of exorcism. I have seen possessed and obsessed people freed quickly and easily (and without drama) by such means. On occasion I have found that praying for an entity can benefit it. This is because some spirits actually come for help, but at the same time their deep negativity may impel them to be hostile and threatening–they cannot help themselves.

Do not let spirits fool you by pretending they need you to keep on “helping” them by praying and suchlike. This is just a way to tie you to them. If something does not get rid of them right away, then another approach is needed.

Evil spirits come for help

One of Swami Sivananda’s disciples told me that in an Indian scripture it is written that once many evil spirits came to Brahma the Creator and asked how they could be delivered from their negative condition, for their evil rendered them unable to help themselves. Brahma told them to seek out true yogis and sadhakas and stay near them and in time they would be freed.

In India I have been in some ashrams and holy places that were incredibly haunted by such spirits.

Demons and Dunces, Part 2: Deluded Asceticism and Dispelling Evil Spirits

A continuation of “Why Spiritual People May Encounter Negativity“ Deluded asceticism The Bhagavad Gita rightly and reasonably says: “Asceticism [tapasya] which is practiced with deluded notions of the Self, and with self-torture… is declared to be of the principle of darkness and ignorance [tamas]” (17:19). … Continue reading

Demons and Dunces, Part 1: Why Spiritual People May Encounter Negativity

Negativity: Demons and Dunces Q: I have just finished reading two books about Christian ascetics whose major activities seemed to be “fighting the demons” and being frightened or tormented by evil spirits throughout their lives. Does this really happen to those who try to attain higher consciousness and know God? Even yogis?

Everything that happens to us externally is a matter of karma, the result of past life action. Everything that arises from within us is a manifestation of samskaras, habit patterns and impressions (including memories) from past lives. So everything in our life comes from, and in one sense is a continuation and reaction of/to, our past deeds and mental states.

Therefore the yogi must from the very first realize that whatever happens inwardly or outwardly is a result of his own previous deeds and thoughts. He must understand that his inner and outer life is a revealing of himself, hopefully leading to the revelation of his Self.

There is a Chinese proverb: “When mean-spirited people live behind a door, mean-spirited people come to that door.” The entire universe is a field of vibrating energy, and that energy is magnetic–it tends to gather around itself energies of like character. Our inner and outer experience is determined by our present vibration.

As Yogananda’s greatest disciple, Sister Gyanamata said: “Your own will always come to you. Indeed, you cannot have anything but your own.” This is a fundamental principle that is wise to keep in mind. It means that when something is said or done to us it is an echo of our own speech and action. We say and do it to ourselves. This is very bitter for the ego to face, but unless we do we will never understand anything about our life. It is all karma, and it is our karma.

Now we should consider what could bring about encounters with evil spirits.

Karma

The first cause of such encounters is karma. Those (including yogis) who created karma with evil spirits in past lives by intentionally contacting them in some manner, by practicing witchcraft or magic, or by having it done for them, certainly may encounter evil spirits, but can easily deal with the situation as I outline later.

Religion

A great deal of demonic attack by evil spirits is caused by the very nature of a person’s religion. For example, if much of their beliefs are false such as eternal hell and damnation (especially for others not part of their religion or sect), and they denounce beliefs that are true such as reincarnation, karma, evolution of consciousness and the ultimate salvation of all sentient beings, then they are vulnerable to such misfortune.

What Is True Spiritual Experience?

Spiritual Experience: Why Settle for Less?

Sentient beings–long before reaching the level of human birth and after–are immersed in a chain of never-ending experiences, many of them absolutely illusory with no basis of any kind.

Yoga philosophy goes further and says that all experiences are delusions. Some, such as hallucinations, have no objective reality at all, and other experiences may be based on some degree of actuality, but our misinterpretation of them turns them into delusions as well. “Maya” is not outside us, but an interior condition.

Wandering in illusion

The yogi’s fervent aspiration is to experience the Real, the Truly Existent (Sat) which we call Brahman, the Paramatman. So immediately he is confronted with the crucial question: What is true spiritual experience? This must be answered lest he wander for future lifetimes through delusional experiences he mistakes for realities.

Since yoga deals with the mind–the major source of illusory experience–the yogi is very susceptible to mistaking the unreal for the real, just as he was before becoming a yogi! The masters of yoga have given us clear information as to the nature of real spiritual experience.

Real Spiritual Experience: Pure Consciousness

When Gorakhnath asked Matsyendranath: “What is the abode of knowledge [jnana]?” the Master replied: Consciousness [chetana] is the abode of knowledge” (Gorakh Bodha 21, 22). Shankara defines correct meditation as “meditation established in the perception of the nature of Spirit alone, pure Consciousness itself.”

Yoga Sutra 3:55 tells us: “Liberation is attained when the mind is the same as the spirit in purity.” That is, when through meditation we are permanently filled with nothing but the awareness of pure consciousness, liberation is attained. “That is the liberation of the spirit when the spirit stands alone in its true nature as pure light. So it is.” This is the conclusion of Vyasa.

Pure consciousness alone prevails. True spiritual experience, then, is the experience of pure, unalloyed consciousness that is the nature of spirit and Spirit, of the individual and the cosmic Self.

All You Need to Know About the Chakras (Not Just Seven, Either!)

seven chakras illustration Just as the outer universe is a complex of many interrelated points such as suns and planets, in the same way the material and subtle bodies of the yogi–which reflect and react on one another–are a network of life energy points known as chakras.

Chakras are points in the bodies into which the universal life force (vishwaprana) flows. Without that constant inflow the bodies would become dormant and disintegrate–would die. The chakras are both entrances and exits for the cosmic life power as well as reservoirs of that power and points of intelligent direction of the power.

There are many subsidiary satellites of the chakras called adharas. Adharas are reservoirs of pranic energies, storage units for the energies that flow into the subtle bodies through the chakras, and therefore can be (and often are) mistaken for a chakra.

Seven Chakras and Two More

The Nath Yogi tradition teaches that there are nine major chakras:

The Muladhara, located at the base of the spine
The Swadhishthana, located in the spine a little less than midway between the base of the spine and the area opposite the navel.
The Manipura, located in the spine at the point opposite the navel.
The Anahata, located in the spine opposite the midpoint of the sternum bone.
The Vishuddha chakra, located in the spine opposite the hollow of the throat.
The Talu chakra, located at the root of the palate (opposite the tip of the nose).
The Ajna chakra, located at the point between the eyebrows–the “third eye.”
The Nirvana chakra, located in the midst of the brain: opposite the middle of the forehead, directly beneath the crown of the head.
The Brahmarandhra chakra, located at the crown of the head.