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Enlightenment

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GOD said:
Enlightenment is something that humans are capeable of . Has anyone here direct experience of enlightenmnet ? Anyone trying or tried to get there ?

Has anyone had near death experience/s and / or white light experiences ?
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I have direct experience :) It came on hard and fast through Kundalini awakening. Funnily enough I got banned off here for a year for saying that DMT induced psychosis in me. Well that year gave me some time to think about the true nature of how these things fit together.

It turned out that DMT precipitated the +4 experiences that subsequently triggered the latent kundalini faculty. Kundalini awakening drove one through psychosis giving an appearance that DMT dosage led to psychotic states. I have all but mastered the +4 state. Thing is then that when you stay in this state for long enough, it begins to alter your brain chemistry and it starts operating on all the spiritual knots on your body. So next thing you know, enough time harnessing the peak state of DMT-induced samadhi and then this triggers the latent Kundalini shakti facility in the body. With the kundalini triggered, there is now a novel component to the experience.

You see... entering those states of non-duality or pure unity, voidness, it requires some kind of kundalini activity. Kundalini is not just the force that awakens and stirs to life and works through the chakras and propels one to Satori/Nirvana. In fact it is also the base animating principle by which we work, it is the Flow. The flowness of things, the sensing of which is significantly boosted by meditating upon the flow of life and the flow of flow itself.


Through sufficient nerve entrainment, you then have a body in which the kundalini faculty is arising and simultaneously you are subjecting it to high intensity peak states, repeatedly, getting acclimatised to the peak state as if it is the default state, or to try to find the defaultness of the peak state itself - to bridge the perception of a peak state and the perception of the sober state so as to find the peak state already present within the sober state itself. In that sense then it is found that the thinker in the peak state is the very same thinker in the sober state. The boosted consciousness and the default consciousness are themselves artifacts of the overarching Consciousness in which there is no change whatsoever.

Having experienced the spectrum of states, peak and terror, intense and effortless, a novel kind of seeing arises. As the kundalini rises to the crown chakra, a sensation of expansion is experienced. This expansion occurs until an infinity point is "reached" at which point a simultaneous contraction arises. This contraction intensifies and accelerates inwardly until total contraction occurs. As total contraction occurs, it is as if a black hole is formed, a supernova of Clear Light occurs, a total darkness appears. To say it appears, is not quite correct either. Everything disappears, the lack of everything leaving the darkness already present, the lack of everything illumining the presence of No-thing. The Self, the perceptual stream, it is compressed into a singularity and the gravity of this experience is of such strength that the distinction between knower and known dissolves. Knower is squeezed into known and the two melt into Knowledge itself. Then a sensation of infinite peace is experienced though this is not a sensation but a Reality, beyond all illusion. It is infinitely spacious, infinitely lit, infinitely expansive and infinitely inclusive. A total fullness yet a total emptiness, a total fulfilment. This state is maintained for several seconds to several minutes. Everything disappears. Everything. So if everything disappears, what remains? The answer to that question actually cannot be transmitted but it must be experienced for yourself. From the state of infinite nothingness, peace, tranquility, Knowledge, you are returned back into the waking state as the kundalini descends back to the root chakra once more.

Here is an excellent link on the nature of this process: Nirvikalpa and the Unseen World


So this is enlightenment through kundalini awakening, supported by peak-state ayahuasca shamanism.

The first years after it happened I was in complete ecstatic bliss. The world is/was like a deep dreamless sleep. Everything happening but nothing happening at all. Just annihilated. The same state of freedom and innocence as when a baby. However don't confuse this with being a good or bad person. The experience does not affect whether you are a good or a bad person, that's for sure. In fact most of my latent evil nature came out after this experience, not before. It turns out that being liberated does not give you an excuse or reason to slacken in maintaining good conduct. So I'd advise anyone chasing such experiences or states to be heedful of this advice as it will save you a lot of needless suffering. Neither does suffering disappear. It's the same as before but there is a luminosity pervasive in one's experience that was not there before. One feels activated, online, aware of a vast space underlying and facilitating all things. A sense of total sameness, of singular substance-ness. It's that ++++ peak state while sober without the rapid thoughts, without the psychedelic mind melting twist. It's peaking while sober. No ecstasy per se. Just the bliss of nothing at all.





One day the Master [Joshu] announced that a young monk had reached an advanced state of enlightment. The news caused some stir. Some of the monks went to see the young monk [Kyogen]. "We heard you are enlightened. Is that true?" they asked.

"It is," he replied.

"And how do you feel?"

"As miserable as ever," said the monk.
 
Enlightenment is about seeing through the single biggest confidence trick in the history of the universe.

How can you become free if you can't see that you're a prisoner?

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
- Mathhew 7:7

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
- John 8:32
 
jamie said:
I think those who are enlightened...

Probably are not keen on posting walls of text about it.

Just my 2 cents.
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No but they'll be happy to write entire books about it and sell it to you...

Take it or leave it, that's my experience. It's very much a completely objective physical experience of transition from self A to self B. Hopefully one day we'll get someone to sit in an MRI machine and go through the process so it's clear what happens to the brain.

Every time I mention my experience an army of folks come out with the standard sayings. "Those who know, don't speak, those who speak, don't know" is my favourite. Yet Guatama wrote the Dhammapada, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching.

It's very much a physical experience and one that will rapture you with force that no psychedelic experience can match, and I mean NONE. Now I'm not exactly melting mountains with my third eye or levitating on Mars so make of that what you will. Perhaps you set your standard for 'enlightenment' a little higher than the reality of the situation.

Although I'd have to comment that it does not seem to end at this particular Samadhi either. What I do feel is the sixth sense fully activated. There is a new knowingness found in the silence. It's like the space between thoughts. Somehow it beckons one to act and consider one's response to one's surroundings by letting go into the silence and retrieving an answer. Shamanic tools. The kundalini gives me signals on how to behave and act. It manifests in the hands primarily, each finger corresponding to a specific chakra. Interestingly the system is mapped out in Sahaja Yoga and the signals I feel are 1:1 in accordance with the subtle system map designed by Sahaja Yogis.

Subtle-Body.jpg


There are a few signals I have identified so far. It communicates using heat or Chi, it is felt as a vibrating white hotness which is yet cool and serene, tranquil. A finger or a portion of the hand will light up and be filled with energy in response to a particular thought. Yesterday I expressed ingratitude to God (bad idea!) and it put a stone of locked solid pain in my index finger, which was reversed via meditating on what I have been given in Life. It will signal white hot for an action to be executed which is about to significantly change my life. Sometimes there is coolness, a cool tingling in which the hands will start buzzing with energy and become like a checkerboard, white and red "squares". My line of Fate, it's having a field day with. It's constantly making updates to it, etching all of these little lines, seemingly insignificant but highly meaningful. Signals are also given in the toes.

There's a line on my hand which glows with fire like a Harry Potter scar and I wish I could be making this up but that's the reality of the situation.


Anyway I would hope that someone like Rising Spirit would comment on this. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is a well described 'phenomenon' for lack of a better word. There are plenty of walls of texts out there written by people who have gone through the same experience. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be teleporting or turning lead into gold anytime soon but I hope to be able to one day. Smoalk moar
 
jamie said:
I think those who are enlightened...

Probably are not keen on posting walls of text about it.

Just my 2 cents.
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embracethevoid said:
Take it or leave it, that's my experience. It's very much a completely objective physical experience of transition from self A to self B. Hopefully one day we'll get someone to sit in an MRI machine and go through the process so it's clear what happens to the brain.

Every time I mention my experience an army of folks come out with the standard sayings. "Those who know, don't speak, those who speak, don't know" is my favourite. Yet Guatama wrote the Dhammapada, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao Te Ching.
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jamie said:
What makes you think I was addressing you?
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Or even zhoro, joedirt, Global, cyb, GOD, jbark, Aeternus, myself or any other specific individuals interacting within this thread or within this total forum body? Maybe it's just the run-on sermons and elucidations ad infinitum (or in the worse case scenarios, ad nauseam)... that are at all raised as objectionable or seemingly contradictory dynamics?

The Blah, Blah, Blah Syndrome... ??? :thumb_dow

I am certainly the guiltiest and most indulgent one within our fold, in that regard. I've frequently joked my user name ought to be changed to, Long Wind. If jamie isn't referring to humankind's world religious teachings, scriptures, Sutras, Gospels. sermons, philosophical treatises and discourses... rather, implies folks here at the Nexus itself... he may actually be spot-on, he may be enjoying his right at counterpoint. And I can truly respect that.

Fathoming another's intended meaning from verbal exchanges, can be a delicate art. I don't presuppose to comprehend anyone else, when I am barely able to comprehend myself. Besides, who can say with any iota of impartiality or any modicum of objectivity? And ya can't exactly blame a kid for trying, even when trying not to try, is still a form of trying to maintain control and cling to definable quantifications and deductions. A good rule of thumb in the science laboratory but pretty darn useless in metaphysics and entering into eclipsing states of Savikapla and Nirvikalpa Samadhi... also referred to as Satori or Divine Rapture (AKA ecstatic bliss).

embracethevoid said:
Anyway I would hope that someone like Rising Spirit would comment on this. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is a well described 'phenomenon' for lack of a better word. There are plenty of walls of texts out there written by people who have gone through the same experience. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be teleporting or turning lead into gold anytime soon but I hope to be able to one day.
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I kinda agree with both of you guys. Those who might be thought of as "enlightened" by their contemporaries, peers and kin, might be wholly unknown to the media, on web forums and such human interactions? Why would they... or perhaps, why wouldn't they?

A good many of such beings may have indeed evaded the annals of history and the recorded word. Like What's His/Her Name? or that other sagely character, Who Was That? If nobody notices how high/holy/enlightened they are, we surely would never know that they ever even existed, right? I might be possible that most of our brightest soul brothers and sisters are in far away, remote places, quietly echoing and reflecting the vibration of the Omniversal Spiritus (in sheerest solitude).

Conversely, the next person you cross paths with may secretly be a Buddha, an Avatara, the Christ awakened beyond illusions and mortal limitations, those of attention and very content of perception. Experiencing exponential freedom of mind, carried beyond the beyondest beyond, through the full bloom of illuminated conscious-awareness. So maybe they are so high they are barely able to contain their vortexial fulcrum of individuated consciousness, fixed within a finite, earthly bodily form?

This could generate an attitude of absolute resolve towards deepest silence. After all, why bother attempting to say what can NEVER be said in words? Like wise ole Socrates quipped, after be told that the Oracle of Delphi declared him the wisest man in all of Greece. "I only know one thing, that I know nothing." We commonly believe he implied that human knowledge is so infinitesimally limited, that it's significance is relatively meaningless. :!:

An alternate spin might be that Socrates experienced and knew directly, that no-thing which all of the known seems to originate. That mysterious, ineffable quintessence inerrant within all of the concrete and temporal aspects of existence and the paradigm of human self discovery... a subjective discovery of the universe looking in at itself and seeing the blinding luminosity of the Clear Light of the Void (as it's own epicenter, it's very own source and indivisible state of Omniversal being).

I've made it clear a number of times, that my preference is to the most contemporary interpretation, as translated by a new generation of Greek linguists utilizing the most advanced understanding to the meaning of this wise, ancient Greek metaphor, "My knowledge comes from an un-knowing." Ergo, one can interphase within an insubstantial field of pure energy, radiating pure white light... by releasing the mind and it's hold on the subject of our attention. Awakening to this ever-present moment where this IS that and self has no other. All is seamlessly one.

By such an "un-knowing" every bit of conditioning and abandoning our focus upon the transitory and impermanent, preferring to willingly unite consciously, with the infinite effulgence of said Unified Field of Energy, Web of Being. So who does what, who achieves enlightenment, when only emptiness and silence are wholly indiscernible? Spiritual attunement need not always cease all expressions or verbal communications, it ought to merely enlighten them a wee bit, eh? 😁

That being said, the great Socrates orated quite a bit of philosophical gems, shared his insights and observations with much verbosity and poetic finesse. So did Sri Krishna, Zarathustra, Sakyamuni, Lao Tzu, Mahavira, Plato, Patanjali, Chang Tzu, Yeshua, Adi Shankaracharya, Rumi, Tabriz, Kabir, Sri Ramana Maharshi & Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, etc, etc, etc...

So yeah, "enlightened" persons don't necessarily choose obscurity and/or take a total vow of mauna (vow of silence).
 
anyone can claim to be enlightened...and anyone can say or write inspirational messages and speak some truths.

But how can you know another is enlightened? You can only know what you experience..and if you can love others, love yourself, and love life, then that is all a person needs. You don't need to proclaim your enlightened status to everyone else.

People tend to idolize other people, and then religions snowball in that wake. I cant help it that there are times when these discussions make me want to stick my finger in my throat and gag because I often feel they are shallow and hollow.

I don't mean that to offend anyone, I am just being honest about how I sometimes feel, in general when people start talking about enlightenment and holy people, sages etc.
 
these talks also offer hope

hope for liberation

whatever it may be

edit :

its like talking about love ,
leads to lot of gagging yet it feels good
 
^ He went through a kundalini awakening... it's fairly clear from what he's describing. Unfortunately most/all of what he is saying is true.

Where I find it absurd is that he is negating the process, the axis of time. He went through every samadhi, went through nirvikalpa samadhi, and then, and only then was his journey finished. Kinda proves the whole shebang in the first place. Luckily we live in a time now where Kundalini is mapped out and we have a basic understanding of it, thanks to people like Shri Mataji and Pandit Gopi Krishna. It is an entirely physiological process, a biological process, which transforms the individual and creates the new Man. If this process is not carried out, the new Man does not arise. If this process is carried out, the new Man arises.

It is said:

Not all those who have awakened Kundalini are enlightened
All those who are enlightened have awakened Kundalini


Jamie: I posted a wall of text about it, did I not? :twisted: However this thread is full of walls of text so fair dos to all. There is no point in idolizing or revering other persons. There is every point in idolizing and revering God, the pure essence by which we subsist, by which we live and by which we shall all die in time. God, who is Life, who is Light. That's not a metaphorical God, or a metaphorical Life or a metaphorical Light either. No, I am saying that God, the literal God, is Life, the literal Life, who is Light, the literal "see with my own damn two eyes and the third on top with a beating heart" Light. Simple.

Rising Spirit: I've said this before and I'll say it again. You don't know WHO uses the internet and where they have been. Everyone is on the internet now (leaving aside the other 4 billion people) :? . I've spoken to no less than 3 people who have also entered this Samadhi. We all say the same thing. We're all normal people living normal lives. Except there's a little glint in the eye...

I have a friend who I sometimes speak to who has also gone through it directly. When he speaks, his eyes gleam with knowingness. It's not an ordinary gleam. It's not a facial tic or a facial expression. It's an actual Light that is visible, which seems to emanate from the Third Eye. I used to observe this same light in many people beforehand, usually those who were acid casualties or perhaps some of them were 'schizophrenic' too.


The purpose of speaking verbosely is to elucidate the fact that enlightenment is a physical process which happens to physical beings. It is not conceptual, it is not a magical object which triggers all of a sudden out of pure randomness. When the conditions are right and perfected, Nirvikalpa Samadhi is the natural result. A physical process, a chemical process. Add these reactants, provide these conditions, throw in a catalyst [:twisted: :lol:] and poof, Nirvikalpa. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. If you're brave enough to commit suicide, Nirvikalpa comes easy. If you're unwilling to let go of what or who you are then I imagine you would have a difficult time. But in my own experience I was ready to commit suicide one way or another. Nirvikalpa came when I decided "fuck the system, fuck it all, I'm ready to dive into death itself, I'm ready". But before that, I had no less than 4 kundalini episodes, each occuring with ferocity beyond any kind of smoked DMT. The rush was more intense than smoked DMT and I've gone far enough with DMT to know what a rush is. I once necked 100g mimosa hostilis and felt the most powerful download of Light into my being. That did not compare to the Kundalini rush, which lasted for weeks or months at a time. The intensity of it was basically smoked DMT breakthrough amnesia level for the entire period it decided to flow.

By the time that Kundalini erupted, I had essentially mastered the DMT state itself. I could go up, down, left, right, sideways, into this or that dimension, I always chose to go into the Void/Love in the end.


I don't agree with U.G. on one thing. The quest does not stop. One must be relentless in chasing and fulfilling Goodness. One has a covenant with one's creator to do good works and fulfill everything and to bring water to the thirsty and food to the hungry. Some choose to fulfill that covenant and some choose to go against it and some choose to do nothing. I would not be surprised if at the end of the race, there were many philanthropic billionaires who outranked most 'enlightened' people. You think it finishes at enlightenment, you thought wrong. Serious talk. Take heed.
 
jamie said:
anyone can claim to be enlightened...and anyone can say or write inspirational messages and speak some truths.

But how can you know another is enlightened? You can only know what you experience..and if you can love others, love yourself, and love life, then that is all a person needs. You don't need to proclaim your enlightened status to everyone else.

People tend to idolize other people, and then religions snowball in that wake. I cant help it that there are times when these discussions make me want to stick my finger in my throat and gag because I often feel they are shallow and hollow.

I don't mean that to offend anyone, I am just being honest about how I sometimes feel, in general when people start talking about enlightenment and holy people, sages etc.
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thank you..:d
 
I just want to point out that kundalini experiences, as described in the Upanishads, do not as far as I understand equal enlightenment. Full kundalini awakening might, but I don't know what else to say about that...many people seem to instead experience kundalini crisis and seem unbalanced. I have spend months there at one point..and experienced many of the things you describe. I could leave my body at will for weeks every single night...I was having cosmic messages beamed into my head etc..it was weird as hell, but it was not enlightenment, regardless of how much I may have learned during that time.

it's easy to experience kundalini..simply smoke a couple mg's of 5-MeO-DMT and wait a couple seconds.

I wont claim to be enlightened because I smoked 5-MeO-DMT however. I had kundalini experiences and got into some profound trans-personal states.

It is important for me, that I accept no others gospel as the truth. There is no "the" truth from my perspective..there is only truths..

"live your own gospel and write your own myth" -Miguel Conner

I think a large part of me is Gnostic at heart...and the gnostic story is too weird for most to take on board..but it was they're story, and has been part of my own story as well. I think much of esoteric wisdom has degraded over time.

I see enlightenment as the end of agitation personally, and expression of what that makes room for, which is something that I do not quite know how to explain. I have yet to meet a person who was truly at that stage, though many strive towards that place and many are closer than I.

...Plato once said "time is the moving image of eternity"...
 
I remember a particular experience induced with DMT that I've had and had the words 'satori enlightenment' play from somewhere in the back of my mind for no reason whatsoever. I didn't even know what it was after I looked it up. Well, it was a particularly intense experience and somehow thought I could break-through to something i've been close to on Salvia and a lot of people had been there before me including Jamie. It had to do with the breathe and controlling it in such a way and I could even use this to extend the DMT trip for hours they said.

Might as well add that in another trip I met beings who where somehow 'outside of time' because they had knowledge of future/past and they showed me that from there in a particular screen that they constructed that experience for me.

I guess a lot of us confuse Satori Enlightenment with actual Enlightenment here. I have an idea of what Enlightenment is. What I have in mind is indeed much more than a Kundalini but quite likely different again from Jamie. (I'm sorry, I haven't read some of the Krishnamurti linked here. I do not know exactly what is a Kundalini Awakening I have never had one)

There was more I was about to say but I can't get to it right now. I'm sure this will suffice for time being. Oh yea. I wanted to say that I think that Ram Dass is/has reached a particular state.. Hmm.. Satori Enlgihtenment or actual Enlightenment. I guess I am inkling to say that he is more or less Enlightened based on who he is right now. Since he mentioned this Breathing thing as an off-side thing and basically said we could use our breathe to alternate dimenions if we like to. If this equals Satori Enlightenment He just thought it was nice but not equally important like some of us would if we knew this.
 
embracethevoid said:
It's very much a physical experience and one that will rapture you with force that no psychedelic experience can match, and I mean NONE. Now I'm not exactly melting mountains with my third eye or levitating on Mars so make of that what you will. Perhaps you set your standard for 'enlightenment' a little higher than the reality of the situation.
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Agreed, there is sooooooo much more occurring in the single human organism we might conveniently refer to as, "oneself", than equates to any deep proclamations or decrees of philosophy, ideaology or any rational law of causation sought after. Who then, is or is not enlightened, when said "enlightenment" reveals a unity so profound, that we are effectively lost within the magnificence of the sheer force of the spiritual awakening? Kundalini arising, is both a necessity and a wholly natural aspect of expanding consciousness.

It's not exactly that the "Serpent Energy" need be flowing vertically or not at all, laying dormant... it's more an impetus of the Godhead to directly trigger such subtle, yet, mind-bogglingly complex neurological stimulations, augmentations and physiological attunements (themselves, aimed to awaken the individuated Jiva, dreaming a whole self-play of sorts), to the alluring interphase within the Divine Frequency, the Unified Field, the Sacred Web of Being... our own source and destined point of re-entry therein. The proverbial Stairway to Heaven. 8)

Some run towards this tremendous force, some stumble upon it accidentally, some purposely avoid it and prefer to remain impassive in direct regards to the eclipsing of human soul and the magnificent buzz of infinity exploring it's own parameters. And also, on a very cagey level, some individuated expressions of self are afraid to release to the overwhelming force of this universal and self-shattering vortexial fulcrum of beingness/ indivisible energy.

The bloom of self realization is a rocking path to tread. Furthermore,I feel that suffice it to say, kundalini activation, equally so third eye activation sequencing, is a process which is really more a defaulting mechanism, a re-alignment/ re-birthing experience. An attunement to the most natural state, the fully transformed persona shining ever so brightly and most beatifically. :thumb_up:
 
jamie said:
I just want to point out that kundalini experiences, as described in the Upanishads, do not as far as I understand equal enlightenment. Full kundalini awakening might, but I don't know what else to say about that...many people seem to instead experience kundalini crisis and seem unbalanced. I have spend months there at one point..and experienced many of the things you describe. I could leave my body at will for weeks every single night...I was having cosmic messages beamed into my head etc..it was weird as hell, but it was not enlightenment, regardless of how much I may have learned during that time.

it's easy to experience kundalini..simply smoke a couple mg's of 5-MeO-DMT and wait a couple seconds.

I wont claim to be enlightened because I smoked 5-MeO-DMT however. I had kundalini experiences and got into some profound trans-personal states.

It is important for me, that I accept no others gospel as the truth. There is no "the" truth from my perspective..there is only truths..

"live your own gospel and write your own myth" -Miguel Conner

I think a large part of me is Gnostic at heart...and the gnostic story is too weird for most to take on board..but it was they're story, and has been part of my own story as well. I think much of esoteric wisdom has degraded over time.

I see enlightenment as the end of agitation personally, and expression of what that makes room for, which is something that I do not quite know how to explain. I have yet to meet a person who was truly at that stage, though many strive towards that place and many are closer than I.

...Plato once said "time is the moving image of eternity"...
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Full kundalini awakening is the end of seeking. It is the beginning of being a sufficient being. I could not say 'self-sufficient' because that is an illusion, our bodies are made of food and love. When you jump through that Gate let me know 😁. I haven't tried 5-MeO-DMT but what I can say is that the peak state on all psychedelics is the same peak state. It is a removing of the non-essential so as to render visible the essential, the Spiritual Heart/Consciousness itself. Nirvikalpa Samadhi is when You remove everything completely and you are left Looking. It occurs when your Kundalini reaches the Crown chakra, then you might stay in it for a few minutes or if you're lucky for longer, then if you are brought back to Earth by You then Kundalini will descend to the Root chakra where you go for Life Round 2.


However in my experience thus far it is clear that after this root chakra awakening further work must be done and it is of the utmost essence for the individual that this work is done. The Kundalini can then be raised again from what I have heard, to ascend to the Heart or the Crown. Ideally perhaps one would retain it in the Crown, for this is the state of total thoughtlessness. In this state, Life flows in fully, it is like being born anew moment by moment, not reborn, but born, BIG difference! When you first pop into this world, there is a freshness to your Self as there has been no time to choose the incorrect decision. If you are looking for the end of agitation then essentially it would most likely be a matter of settling Kundalini in the Crown. I could see someone with it settled in the Crown having no need whatsoever for the typical addictions of the day. Key word is NEED because in any other physical state, there is a NEED to experience these things. These feelings are guideposts to the true Enlightenment itself which is a total shedding of everything moment by moment, essentially replicating the psychedelic peak state permanently.


"It is here we achieve Yoga! As the mind finds rest and silence, we become able to feel our inner Self (Spirit). This can be tangibly felt, it actually manifests, as a cool wind, breath or breeze, often experienced on the palms of the hands or at the top (crown) of the head. It is a spontaneous, effortless natural happening." - Sahaja Yoga

I will now leave you with a wall of text.

Here is a beautiful and well written article by Monica Gauci of 8 Limbs Yoga in Perth. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

'Opening The Heart' by Monica Gauci

In a yoga practice much emphasis is placed on opening the heart. Opening the heart has physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual benefits.

Rounded shoulders and a hunched spine are typically associated as the posture of someone who is less confident, timid, fearful or possibly depressed. We round our shoulders and stoop forward to protect our heart as we carry our emotional, psychological and/or spiritual wounds. As our nervous system is a feedback system this means that by adopting this very posture our brain receives messages that we are less confident, our minds and hearts are closed and we are less likely to be happy. Psychologists such as Wilhelm Reich and Alexander Lowen researched the connection between physical posture and expression and feelings. They found, for example, that a forward collapsed chest relates to depression, while a hardened ribcage was associated with a rigid character. This approach later developed into the science of Bioenergetics. Just as what we think and how we feel expresses itself in our physical posture, so our physical posture has an effect on our thoughts, our feelings, the image we portray, and the subsequent responses we receive from others.

Unfortunately, the work of many professionals and students means long hours adopting a monotonous, static sitting posture. It is not physically possible to maintain the ‘perfect’ posture for the duration of our work day because our postural muscles eventually fatigue. The latest on spinal care advises that the best approach is to constantly change a prolonged sitting posture to avoid muscle fatigue and the resultant problems of back and neck strain that this brings. Many yoga postures, especially back bending postures, perfectly counteract the forward compressive forces that long hours of sitting have on the spine. Correspondingly, these postures open the heart area and allow energy to flow freely through the energy channels (nadis) and energy centres or chakras. The ancient scripture the Mahanirvana Tantra allocates specific negative emotions to individual petals of the heart chakra. Opening the heart chakra unblocks stuck energy helping to heal our emotional and psychological wounds.


Posture, Emotions & Our Health
Anatomically, when our heart area is closed our pectoralis major and minor muscles are chronically shortened whilst their functional antagonist muscles (those that perform the opposite actions) will be lengthened and potentially weakened. Pectoralis major raises your arms above your head and performs horizontal adduction (drawing the arm across the chest). In regards to posture, the main antagonist action is performed by the latissimus dorsi muscle. Both Traditional Chinese Medicine and modern healing arts such as Applied Kinesiology work with the notion that various emotions tend to be stored in specific organs and their corresponding muscles. Pectoralis major is associated with the organs of the stomach and the liver. Both of these organs are vital to our digestion and the assimilation of nutrients, while the liver also plays a vital role in detoxification. The stomach relates to the emotions involved in being over-sympathetic. The emotion for the liver is anger. The latissimus dorsi muscle is associated with the pancreas another important organ of digestion and the regulation of blood sugar metabolism. Emotionally the pancreas relates to low self-esteem, hopelessness and distrust. Physically, the optimal function of these organs is important to our overall health.

Emotionally, it is the nutrients of
acceptance, trust and forgiveness
that enable us
to digest, assimilate and detoxify
the hurts we harbour
in our hearts.

Pectoralis minor is a much smaller muscle which lies deep to pectoralis major. It tilts the shoulder blades (scapulae) forward and helps move them away from each other in an action called protraction. The antagonist muscles to these actions are the middle and lower trapezius and the rhomboid muscles. The lower trapezius draws the shoulder blades down away from the ears whilst the middle trapezius and rhomboid muscles draw the shoulder blades toward each other in retraction. These are all important stabiliser muscles of the scapulae. The rhomboids are associated with the liver and the middle and lower trapezius muscles are associated with the spleen. Along with the pancreas, the spleen also relates to the emotions involved in low self-esteem and self-doubt. Additionally, the pectoralis minor muscle lies over the thoracic ducts, which are our major drainage vessels for the entire lymphatic system. Tight pectoralis minor muscles can inhibit lymphatic drainage and contribute to fluid retention.


Reciprocal Inhibition
Our nervous system is hardwired in such a way that when we contract one muscle its antagonist must relax and is lengthened or stretched. This neural phenomenon is termed reciprocal inhibition. This is what happens in an active stretch and what makes active stretching so effective. In a hunched, rounded-shoulder posture the pectoral muscles are generally tight and short and need to be stretched and lengthened. Correspondingly, the antagonist shoulder muscles on the back will be lengthened and possibly weak. Actively engaging the latissimus dorsi, middle and lower trapezius and rhomboids not only strengthens these muscles but the pectoralis muscles are automatically switched off and must relax and stretch.
We have millions of receptors in our muscles, tendons and joints. These receptors send a constant stream of messages to our brain and nervous system detailing the way we carry and move our bodies. Physically we can retrain our muscles to hold and move us with greater ease, support and comfort, while regulating the breath has a purifying and calming effect on our mental state. Adapting our posture, retraining our movement and breathing patterns, the use of visualisation and sound or mantra, as well as spiritual intention can transform us physiologically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. These are the synergistic tools which express the therapeutic power of yoga.


The Heart of Hearts
There are three different hearts. We are all familiar with the physical heart which pumps blood to the whole of our body, organs and brain. This heart maintains our physical life. At the same time we unanimously refer to our heart as the residence of our emotions, both negative and positive. When we love, hate, are fearful or excited, feel shame or pride we feel this in our emotional heart. Yet our heart of hearts, our innermost heart (hrdaya) is our spiritual heart. The English term heart is derived from the Sanskrit root hrt which means the innermost. The Indian sage Ramana Maharishi used the term heart to refer to our true Self, pure consciousness. This concept is supported in the ancient scriptures including the Yoga Sutra and the Katha Upanishad. This heart never changes. It never has a good day or a bad day. And unlike our emotions it is not conditioned by our previous experiences. Our body is our temple and our innermost heart is the shrine within that temple where the light of our consciousness dwells. This light is the manifestation of love that is our divine nature.

Opening our hearts means to dis-armour ourselves, to uncover our heart. Any suffering we experience is actually the separation from the love that exists in our heart of hearts. Unveiling our innermost heart to ourselves is what removes this pain. It is important to keep our heart open not just to receive love and light but to let the light and love that dwells in our hearts shine forth. As human beings it is imperative to open to the spiritual experience of our true Self. It is not just our dharma or duty but it is the very purpose of our existence. When the heart is open we feel love, not for anyone or anything or any other reason than the simple fact that we are alive, that we exist.


For in essence
we are
both love and light.
Click to expand...
 
zhoro said:
The system of chakras, etc. relates to the form. I Am before the form.
Click to expand...
82. Nothing Exists

Yamaoka Tesshu, as a young student of Zen, visited one master after another. He called upon Dokuon of Shokoku.

Desiring to show his attainment, he said: "The mind, Buddha, and sentient beings, after all, do not exist. The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no relaization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received."

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing. Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

"If nothing exists," inquired Dokuon, "where did this anger come from?"
 
We're already enlightened, every being on this planet has and is Buddha nature, I and no one else, can teach an individual who they are, for that is there blessing to find out, i can only teach them who they are not, that which they are not, is that which blocks the natural awareness which we refer to enlightenment. Enlightenment is simply the end of all suffering, what lies beyond suffering, is beyond explanation, and there is no need to go into it in detail… Bliss and peace.
 
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