Yoga Practice 116 - Individuation through Meditation: Japa, Mudra, Chanting

Yoga Practice 115 - Taittiriya Upanishads-Vedas: Mandalas

From M.Alan Kazlev's weblog 30 June 1999: "The Taittiriya Upanishad is exceptional in that it is one of the first writings to present a systemmatic metaphysic or theory of first principles. It speaks of the individual as divided into five selves (atma, initially - as with all such terms - "breath", and then "self" or "soul"; the term elsewhere, and especially later, came to characterise that aspect of the self which is synonymous with the Absolute)

Five levels of self are referred to: the anna-maya-atma or the "Self (atma) made of Food"; the prana-maya-atma or "the Self made of Vital Breath (prana)"; the mana-maya-atma "the Self made of Mind (manas)"; the vijnana-maya-atma or "the Self made of Consciousness or intellect (vijnana)", and finally the ananda-maya-atma or "the Self made of Bliss (ananda)", where one attains to Brahman. The spiritual aspirant, in the quest for Self- and God-realisation, passes under the guidance of the Master through each of these selves in turn, finally attaining to the Absolute or Brahman, which is synonymous with the highest or Bliss Self

The ninth chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad says:
"He who knows the Bliss of Brahman (divine consciousness)... does not distress himself with the thought "why did I not do what is good? why did I do what is evil?". Whoever knows this (bliss) regards both of these as Atman (self, soul), indeed he cherishes both as Atman. Such, indeed, is the Upanishad, the secret knowledge of Brahman."

The key phrase of the Upanishads, to Advaita Vedanta, is "Tat Tvam Asi" (That thou art). Vedantins believe that in the end, the ultimate, formless, inconceivable Brahman is the same as our soul, Atman. We only have to realize it through discrimination.

From Agnisoma's weblog: "Veda are those fundamental Tattva’s, from whom the Cosmos has sprung up and grown................Akshara-Brahma, which having a central-appearance, self-originates in the womb of Jagada-Janani Mahamaya, and thus grants five Kala’s to a nishkal Awyaya thereby making it sakala is known as Param-Brahma.

The five Brahma Kala’s known are: -

Param-Brahma-----Awyaya-Brahma
Brahma-----Ananda
Vishnu-----Vigyan
Indra-----Mana
Agni-----Prana
Soma-----Wak

The Brahma-Vishnu-Indra fusion is known as ‘Antaryami’ and that of Agni-Soma is known as ‘Sootra-atma’. Later on, the Kshara creation takes place. Kshara’s also have five Kala’s namely, Pranah-Aapah-Wak-Anna-Annaada. The incessant inter-mingling of these five energies is the reason for creation of the five Bhoota’s namely, Prithvi-Jal-Tej-Vayu-Akash. These Bhoota’s become the reason for creation of the system of Swayambhu-Parmesthi-Surya-Prithvi-Chandrama.

The foremost Fundamental Veda’s for creation of Cosmos are known as “Agni-Soma”. We may also call them separately as Agni Veda and Soma Veda. The word ‘Agni’ is from symbolic language, whereas in the fundamental language the same word is ‘Agri’.

There are only two fundamental tattva’s. One of them will always reach outwards (Towards the perimeter) from centre due to its nature and thus, is known as ‘Agri’.

The other one will always try to reach towards the center from the perimeter, and thus comes to be known as ‘Soma’.

So, Agni and Soma are the only two basic Veda’s. Within the five-fold Universe of Swayambhu-Parmesthi-Surya-Prithvi-Chandrama, Agni is present in Swayambhu-Surya-Prithvi and Soma is present in Parmeshthi-Chandrama.

You, me and whatever we see within this Universe is all made of Agni-Soma in its basis. This is evident in, “Agni-Somaatmakam Jagata”. This means, All Universe is of the form of Agni and Soma.

Every individual constructs a system around itself into the distant space, because of the rays generated by centrally established energy. The ‘Pinda’ or individual is ‘Martya’ and its ‘Mandala’ or system is called ‘Amrit’. The Swayambhu Mandala is called as ‘Brahma-nishvasita Veda’. The Parmesthi (Which is the form of Aapah) Mandala is called as ‘Brahma-shvedaveda’. Surya Mandala (Also famous as Saur-mandal, Solar-System) is called ‘Gayatri-mantric Veda’. The Chandra Mandala is called as ‘Somaveda’. Prithvi Mandala is called as ‘Yagyamantric Veda’. This is a brief introduction to the Mandala or system form of Veda’s."

What I am beginning to see is that no matter whose teachings I read....Sri Aurobindo, Carl Gustav Jung, Philosophy of Tantra, or The Upanishads....they all lead to the same theme....the concept of the inner consciousness being represented by a Mandala and being a microcosm of the macrocosm!

Yoga Practice 114 - Mysore Practice - Sri Aurobindo-The Mother: Vishnu-Lakshmi

(Shown here is the Sri Yantra) I have been practicing Mysore Style Ashtanga Yoga since January 2009. The beauty of this practice is that it allows you to become aware of what The Mother refers to as the Soul. "The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing, although their essence is the same. The soul is the divine spark that dwells at the centre of each being; it is identical with its Divine Origin, it is the divine in man" -The Mother

In the experience of yoga the self or being is in essence one with the Divine or at least it is a portion of the Divine and has all the divine potentialities. But in manifestation it takes two aspects, the Purusha and Prakriti, conscious being and Nature. In Nature here the Divine is veiled, and the individual being is subjected to Nature which acts here as the lower Prakriti, a force of Ignorance, Avidya. The Purusha in itself is divine, but exteriorised in the ignorance of Nature it is the individual apparent being imperfect with her imperfection. Thus the soul or psychic essence, which is the Purusha entering into the evolution and supporting it, carries in itself all the divine potentialities; but the individual psychic being which it puts forth as its representative assumes the imperfection of Nature and evolves in it till it has recovered its full psychic essence and united itself with the Self above of which the soul is the individual projection in the evolution. This duality in the being on all its planes-for it is true in different ways not only of the Self and the psychic but of the mental, vital and physical Purushas-has to be grasped and accepted before the experiences of the yoga can be fully understood.

The Being is one throughout, but on each plane of Nature, it is represented by a form of itself which is proper to that plane, the mental Purusha in the mental plane, the vital Purusha in the vital, the physical Purusha in the physical. The Taittiriya Upanishad speaks of two other planes of the being, the Knowledge or Truth plane and the Ananda plane, each with its Purusha, but although influences may come down from them, these are superconscient to the human mind and their nature is not yet organised here." - Sri Aurobindo

(The Psychic Being - Soul: Its nature, mission and evolution) Selections from the Works of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

In my interpretation - Sri Aurobindo is the symbolic Purusha or conscious being and The Mother - Prakriti or Nature and could also be viewed as Mahalakshmi or Sri, a consort of Vishnu.

Yoga Practice 113 - Mandala-Jung-Tantra-Meditation

According to Carl Jung Resources 2009 "Mandala is a graphical representation of the center (the Self for Jung). It can appear in dreams and visions or it can be spontaneously created as a work of art. It is present in the cultural and religious representations.

In the yoga practices mandala can be a support for meditation or an image that must be internalized through mental absorption. This image organizes the inner energies and forces of the practitioner and puts them in relationship with his ego.

Generally speaking a mandala is a geometrical form - a square or a circle - abstract and static, or a vivid image formed of objects and/or beings.

In our dreams the mandala indicates the phenomenon of centering the individual psychic in which the ego reconsiders its (dominant) position through the assimilation of the collective unconscious contents (symbols or archetypal images).

In modern dreams mandala can be a sophisticated electronic device - an electronic watch or a sophisticated circular machinery. Often the UFOs seen on the sky are also mandala symbols.......

Jungian therapy uses techniques in which the patient is guided to a personal confrontation with the collective unconscious, with archetypes.

This confrontation aims at the assimilation of archetypal images, in short, the individuation, an extensive process that leads to the realization of a psychic totality that includes equally the conscious and the unconscious."

I believe both the philosophy of Tantra and Jung's work on the unconscious are referring to the same phenomenon.

The article by ExoticIndiaArt :- Tantra: The Art of Philosophy explains that "Tantra has developed a system of thought which makes us see the universe as if it were within ourselves, and ourselves as if we were within the universe..........the way to fulfillment is through recognition of our wholeness linking man and the universe. This hence is the broad aim of Tantra art, achieved through visual symbols and metaphors."

I believe Yantras seen in Tantric Art are also Mandalas and represent the inner states of human consciousness, Self as described by Jung. Shown in the picture above is Jung's Mandala of his inner consciouness.

I believe the purpose and practice of meditation is to help a seeker to access their inner consciousness.