More doubts, more answers: You said that Haṭhayoga, except for the sitting postures, is unnecessary in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment. Could you explain more? Yes, I said exactly that. The word Yoga means “union”. It also has a pile of other meanings but they are not relevant in this context. In turn, as so […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 3)
More doubts? Here you have my answers: What is your opinion on the practice of mantra-s? I will share not only my opinion but also my experience as I was informally initiated with the mantra “Om̐ namaḥ śivāya”. Next, I was formally initiated with the mantra “Haṁsa”. Besides, I chanted hymns in Sanskrit for so many […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 2)
More doubts cleared: Is spiritual enlightenment warranted? NO. Even if you find the most awesome Master in the entire history of humankind, spiritual enlightenment is never warranted. It is just about probabilities. If you find a genuine spiritual teacher, the odds are in your favor, but by no means that amounts to warranting you spiritual […]
Removing elementary doubts (Part 1)
When one starts his spiritual path, he is a rookie filled with elementary doubts about everything related to spirituality. What is Reality? Reality is what is immutable: the Self and His Power. All that changes is not Reality but a “manifestation” of Reality. Most people mistake reality for existence and unreality for nonexistence. This is wrong. Therefore, […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 5)
Now, I will speak about the two fundamental qualities of a genuine spiritual teacher: Direct experience of the Self Solid knowledge of the scriptures dealing with the Self If he does not have those two qualities, he is not ready for teaching people yet. If he has direct experience of the Self but lacks knowledge about […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 4)
For you to easily understand how the things work in spirituality, I will give a simple example: When you use your computer, there are, broadly speaking, three factors involved: CPU – operating system – you (the user) CPU is the Central Processing Unit, i.e. it is the chip that controls everything in your machine. The […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 3)
Certainly, there are several categories of disciple (beginner, middle, advanced), but now I will describe the most common mistakes made by disciples in general. Obviously, very advanced ones are not included. Western culture strongly encourages individuality. There is another word that it is frequently mentioned in the West: “freedom”. By freedom most people refer to bodily […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 2)
So, the spiritual aspirant has finally found a genuine spiritual teacher. What is next? He has to ask the spiritual teacher’s permission to be his disciple. This is generally bypassed in the West. People frequently access Yoga through Haṭhayoga (the most insignificant type of Yoga). They call Haṭhayoga “Yoga” out of sheer ignorance. It is […]
Spiritual teacher and disciple (Part 1)
In the vast majority of cases, a “spiritual teacher – disciple” relationship will have to take place for the Self to reveal Himself. Very, very few disciples are able to realize Him on their own (with no teacher). They realize Him without a teacher because they are very advanced spiritually from their very birth. As […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 4)
According to popular belief, the law of Karma (cause and effect) applies to all the creatures in the universe. But there is a problem with this belief. I will explain it to you in detail now. The law of Karma is extremely intricate, but it finally comes down to the fact that if you do […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 3)
Is the soul the same thing as the Self? Yes and No. In higher levels of consciousness the answers to the questions are always in the form of “Yes and no… and why not, something else too”. This cannot be understood by a lower intellect that always wants “Yes” or “No” as an answer. When […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 2)
Confusion reigns supreme among ordinary people and many spiritual aspirants. The power of ideas and concepts is beyond understanding. A stupid but powerful idea could shake the world to its very roots. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of foolish ideas and concepts all the time around. Even spiritual aspirants fall very often prey to ridiculous […]
Learning to think rightly (Part 1)
In the case of those who attained spiritual enlightenment, they can understand each other perfectly. They have no problem with understanding the Self and His Power because all of them do realize Him. Problems arise when one of those people has to explain the truth about the Self and His Power to a person who […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 3)
In this article I will explain some apparent mysteries which bewilder most of people in this world. A usual characteristic of the limited individuals is that they are confounded by any nonsense created in the mind of other people. Then, limited individuals argue with each other. They are addicted to disagreeing with the rest of […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 2)
The Self is the most important thing in everybody’s life. Without Him and His Power, the limited individuals and the rest of the universe would not have come to exist ever. If one is not properly conscious of the Self, he will be always in trouble despite the circumstances, time, place and such. Limited individuals […]
Adapting the ancient teachings to the modern times (Part 1)
Before undertaking a discourse about this subject, let me explain to you what a liberated or enlightened person is. There are two types of final liberation: Getting final liberation and retaining the physical body. Getting final liberation and discarding the physical body. This difference is only exists from the viewpoint of someone watching the liberated […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 5)
Until the Self is realized or apprehended as He is essentially, one is always in trouble and not perfectly happy. In my last post I stated that the limited individual is the Self “gone crazy”. What did I mean by “gone crazy”? I did not merely mean to say that the limited individual is the Self gone crazy because […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 4)
Summing up the teachings now: The Self is inconceivable and beyond the reach of all limited beings. He dwells perpetually devoid of space, time, form and so on. The Power of the Self is also inconceivable like the Self. The first act of the Power of the Self is giving the Self the perception that […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 3)
In my last post I started speaking about merit. This point is generally overlooked by a lot of people due to the veil drawn by spiritual ignorance. For example: They think that they can understand “anything” about spiritual matters “provided” a teacher explains it to them in detail. They think that their intellects are strong […]
Self – Power of the Self – limited individual (Part 2)
I told you in my previous posts that I would dissolve your ignorance about the scriptures little by little by giving you their essence. In order to define what a limited individual is, I will quote aphorism III, 1 of Śivasūtra-s (a very important scripture): “The individual Self (is) the mind||1||” “Limited individual”, “limited being”, “conditioned […]