MEDITATION – THE ROYAL SEAL
THE ROYAL SEAL – MAHAMUDRA
CHAPTER 3 – EDEN – YOGA AND MEDITATION – PART 3
This chapter on the yoga of meditation is in three parts because I humbly wanted to present three profound practices in meditation that have benefited me over the years, aware that everyone has their own unique path and not everyone is suited to the same techniques and methods.
The first part is on the stillness and silence of the great saints like St Teresa of Avila and St Therese of Lisieux, the second part is on the power of that stillness and silence applied to Yogananda and Babaji’s Kriya Yoga and this third part is on the tantric practice of stillness and movement of mind from Mahamudra which I found deeply profound when doing the rituals of the Kalachakra Tantra with the Dalai Lama, through Metatron and Guan Yin.
Of the many lineages I have studied, one of the most beautiful is the Mahamudra, a set of meditation teachings and practices belonging to the Highest Yoga Tantra, and unique in its practice of clear light, wisdom and emptiness. It is authentic tantric spiritual practice and very practical in its instruction, incorporating many of the same principles of stillness and silence that St. Teresa of Avila’s prayerful meditation and Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga uses.
When I first started practicing Mahamudra I was sitting in a Zen garden and I started to perceive all the surrounding trees, birds, wind and sunlight as emanations of Guan Yin. Then some time later when I was doing the Kalachakra Tantra with the Dalai Lama, “I” vanished into Light and was Nameless and Timeless in Pure Presence for 3 days. I spoke to Her about this
“Divine Mother, you told me to meditate on the innate divine essence within, and mediate is what I did. It so happened that meditation and meditator simply vanished. There was no-thing after the meditation to maintain.”
At the time in my diary I described it as follows,
“Divine Mother has given me a gift, the gift of healing. My gift manifests as the simple act of devotion to My Divine Mother. As I write tears fill my eyes. It is as simple as that. Anything I offer to you is Hers. Any miracle manifested is done by Her Hands, any friendship we share is a Divine Friendship given by Her. So my day and my night and every waking thought is devoted to Her. I will share a Sacred Vision she gave me. My Mother Guan Yin was working her divine magic in and through me in this healing process. I received a simple, yet profound message. LOVE. I was meditating by a Zen rock garden under a Sakura tree. Listening to manifested sounds of the Pyramids of Giza from the Source. When my eyes were opened My Mother Guan Yin gifted me with a sacred gift. Not a pearl this time (in the past a deep ocean pearl manifested out of the heart of a statue of Guan Yin for me) but a Sacred Vision. As I walked in the gardens the wind became Her Voice, the petals Her Skin, the light Her Face, the water Her Tears. It was truly sublime. She walks the paths with me. My Divine Mother and I are not separate. It made me think about how the gifts of healing we receive are like the Petals of the Flower of Life. Pure and Precious Divine Consciousness manifesting through us. Love You Dearest Blessed Mother. Thank you for being beside me every moment of my life.
Every person, animal, nature and thing from the crowds gathering to the rock to the sky and beyond was immersed in the Universal Mother Love. Thank you again from every part of my heart.”
The Mahamudra, the heart of the profound true meaning, works with the Source through mindful knowing, stillness and presence, and was composed by an emanation of Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava. It has some basic guidelines. The following are presented as a beginning only.
MEDITATION
1. If you are determined to accomplish in a single lifetime the fruit of enlightenment on the basis of self realization in the ground of being then you should practice meditation regularly.
The Inconceivable Secret Sutra says “Bodhisattvas who wish to attain the unsurpassable perfect enlightenment should not devote themselves to words. Those who want to learn the path to enlightenment should devote themselves to practice. Through words enlightenment will not be gained in an eon, yet by realizing the truth, liberation will be gained in an instant.”
Even if meditation has not yet dawned on you, merely to have the intention to gaze at the mind is significant. To think “I must look at the mind” is deeply meaningful as it has the power to instantly cleanse all impurities and through such observation to receive all the blessings of the buddhas.
PHYSICAL POSTURE
2. Known as the seven points of the Buddha Varochana, these are especially important and were ones that Yogananda also emphasized. A straight spine, for example, so that energy can flow up and down the inner astral spine of light, and keeping the eyes still. It is said “the eyes are the windows to the soul” and in Matthew 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If the eye is single then your whole body is filled with light” and in Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God”. Still eyes lead to I AM Presence and full realization of the Light Body. From this the natural power of the channels, winds and energies in the body arises.
Amazingly, the latest research in ‘quiet eye’ amongst elite athletes and also a technique used at Juilliard School of Music for its top musicians, identifies a secret in the way people see the world, noting that they have long steady gaze at critical periods of success.
Embarking on a PhD at the University of British Columbia, a student named Vickers began to suspect the secret lay in the way that elite athletes see the world. She hooked a group of professional golfers up to a device that precisely monitored their eye movements as they putted their balls. She found an intriguing correlation: the better the player (as measured by their golfing handicap) the longer and steadier their gaze on the ball just before, and then during, their strike. Novices, by contrast, tended to shift their focus between different areas of the scene, with each fixation lasting for shorter periods of time.
The general idea that you should ‘keep your eye on the ball’ is well-known, of course – but this suggested something more intricate, with the precise onset and duration of the gaze correlating with an objective measure of sporting success.
I was contemplating this when thinking of the Buddha and how he saw the world. He saw it with deep presence and mindful-heartful awareness. I was watching a group of shoppers at the supermarket and how their gaze shifted constantly between this need and that, this distraction and that. I then proceeded to shop with slow deep awareness taking time to connect with each section and be fully aware of what was all around me and within me. I often practice seeing the supermarket as a pure buddhafield or Christgrid peopled by buddhas and Christs or deities. It is the perfect place to practice as it is loud and busy with few pockets of stillness.
THE VOICE
3. When the Buddha was practicing austerities by the river for six years he remained in samadhi without moving his body or uttering sounds with his voice. Ultimately to remain silent in the Lord’s Presence Within is the greatest of all prayers and mantras.
THE MIND
4. When three of us look at a painting, each of us can see it in a different way. So it is with the world. We see it in many ways. Water can be seen as a drink, but also as our environment when we go scuba diving. They are all perceptions of our mind. We have exchanged one body for another countless times but the mind has existed from timelessness without beginning. The mind experiences happiness and suffering, and is the root of all samsara and nirvana, all illusions and heavens. When you meditate, and your mind is distracted and forgets, you wander in illusion. When you purify yourself and recognize your original face and remain in your natural state, you awaken to buddhahood and the Christ Within. The root of all paths, the crucial point of all teachings, is the mindful knowing, nurtured within, that keeps the mind present. Be still and Know I AM Presence.
Be still and Know God.
Love and Blessings
Altair and Mother
HOW TO ENTER THE SPIRITUAL EYE
HOW TO ENTER THE SPIRITUAL EYE
CHAPTER 3 – EDEN – YOGA AND MEDITATION – PART 2
All over the world as I have travelled I have been asked this question, “How do I enter the spiritual eye?”
It would seem that above all else we crave the divine, because we know that in seeking and finding God or Source or Being within us, all other questions are answered.
My own experiences of cosmic consciousness came in multiple ways, through Jesus, through Yogananda and Babaji, through Swami Shyam and through the Buddha and Guan Yin. The picture posted here is as close as I could find to my own experience.
They were all deep, profound experiences of the Light, all arrived at slightly differently yet all gave the same extraordinary experience of bliss and knowing we are all looked after in the Divine Plan.
What I endeavor to do below is to give you a series of techniques and practices that you can use to open and enter the spiritual eye.
Please note that the techniques below are primarily Yogananda’s descriptions. I prefer you to have His words on the practices as they are direct from Source.
And that is what they are. Practices that require practice.
I would deeply appreciate your feedback as to what works for you and what you experience. I have practiced all these in various forms morning and night overt the years and I am always learning. As I continue to travel it is a deeply humbling experience knowing that your wisdom informs my wisdom and all is by nature of the One True Self an experience of the One Shared Heart.
ONE – OUTER LIGHT
The first is a technique I was taught in both Tibet and India, to develop an unblinking steady gaze. Yogananda in fact tells us: “Restless and constantly blinking eyes indicate a restless mind; quiet, unblinking eyes, a calm mind. God is not visible, not recognizable to the ordinary restless eyes of mortal man. By fixing the eyes at one point induces the mind to grow calm and concentrated.”
Fixing the eyes on one point is a classical yoga practice, called tratak. It consists in gazing at an object, often a candle, which is placed a little higher than the eyes, at a short distance. Fix that object, never looking away, remaining steady with your gaze, unblinking, even if the eyes start producing tears.
TWO – INNER LIGHT
Yogananda taught another technique to stimulate our vision of the spiritual eye, using an outer light, a lamp. He explains: “Look at a light and close your eyes. Forget the darkness around you and watch the blood red color within your eyelids. Try to look intently into that violet red color before you. Meditate on it and imagine that it is becoming bigger and bigger. Behold around you a dimly shining sea of violet light. You are a wave of light, a ripple of peace floating on the surface of the sea.”
THREE – INNER LIGHT VISUALIZATION
Yogananda teaches visualization as a powerful technique to develop inner concentration. It even leads to the siddhi (power) of materialization:
“I can keep looking at this room and concentrating upon it until, when I close my eyes, I can still see the room exactly as it is. This is the first step in deep concentration, but most people haven’t the patience to practice it. I had the patience. As you continue to practice visualization you will find that your thoughts become materialized. The cosmic law will so arrange it that whatsoever you are thinking of will be produced in actuality, if you command it to be so. Suppose I am thinking of an apple, and the apple appears in my hand. That would be a demonstration of the highest power of concentration.
Try it. Experiment with it. Practice it: intensely look at an apple (or any object in your room) for some time. Imprint the image in your mind. Then close your eyes, looking at the point between the eyebrows. Inwardly try to see that object as clearly as you can.”
FOUR – SPIRITUAL EYE MEDITATION TECHNIQUE
“Concentrate at the point between the eyebrows. Visualize there a tunnel of golden light. Mentally enter that tunnel, and feel yourself surrounded by a glorious sense of happiness and freedom. As you move through the tunnel, feel yourself bathed by the light until all worldly thoughts disappear.
After soaring through the tunnel as long as you feel to do so, visualize before you a curtain of deep violet-blue light. Pass through that curtain into another tunnel of deep, violet-blue light. Feel the light surrounding you. Slowly, the tunnel walls disappear in blue light. Expand your consciousness into that light – into infinite freedom and bliss. Now there is no tunnel. There is only the all-encompassing blueness and bliss of infinity.
At last, visualize before you a silvery-white, five-pointed star of light. Surrender every thought, every feeling into this star of absolute, ever-existing bliss.
Mentally affirm: “I awake in Thy Light, I awake in Thy Light, I am joyful, I am free, I awake in Thy Light!”
FIVE – SURRENDER
When you meditate, the intense gaze at the spiritual eye has its proper moment. During the time of practicing any technique, the eyes are upturned to the spiritual eye, yes, but our concentration is not on that point, but on the technique itself: while practicing Hong-Sau or any mantra technique we concentrate on the breath and the mantra; during Kriya Yoga we concentrate on the inner currents in the astral spine; during the AUM technique we focus on the inner sounds.
The time for fully concentrating on the spiritual eye comes after the technique, during the last part of meditation. At that moment fully concentrate your gaze and attention on the “Christ Center,” the space between the eyebrows – the seat of ecstasy in the body – with devotion, looking toward God. Surrender everything to Source. Let nothing take your gaze away from your spiritual eye, which leads you to ecstasy.
SIX – THE PROCESS
Here is Yogananda’s description of the spiritual eye
“When the yogi concentrates long enough with half-open eyes at the point between the eyebrows, and when the gaze is without any restless motion, he will be able to see a steady light surrounded by other, but flickering, lights. He should not be diverted by this glimmering halo of the spiritual eye, but should steadfastly look at the center of the eye until he feels his mind completely absorbed within it. In time, he will see the perfect formation of the spiritual eye: a dark opal-blue globe within a quivering ring of flame. Gradually, by deep concentration, an extremely brilliant white star occasionally glimmers in the center of the blue. The star is the gateway through which the consciousness must pass to attain oneness with Spirit. It requires time and calm practice to steady the light of the intuitive astral eye. It takes deeper and longer practice to see the star. It requires greater realization to hold the perception of the star. And it takes mastery in meditation to march the consciousness, valiantly triumphant, through the starry gate of light. After the devotee is able at will to see his astral eye of light and intuition with either closed or open eyes, and to hold it steady indefinitely, he will eventually attain the power to look through it into Eternity; and through the starry gateway he will sail into Omnipresence. Progression through the spiritual eye, experienced by advancing yogis, unfolds first the wondrous perceptions of superconsciousness, the region of rays of light out of which all matter evolves. The creative cosmic rays hide like veils the presence of the immanent universal Christ or Krishna Consciousness, the Lord omnipresent in creation. By deeper concentration and meditation, the spiritual eye of intuition opens, and through the wisdom star the yogi becomes united to the Christ-Krishna Omnipresence; and thence, in deepest ecstasy, he reaches the Cosmic Consciousness of Spirit.”
SEVEN – LOVE
Yogananda told us that when he first came to Sri Yukteswar’s ashram, he would keep his mind and gaze focused at the point between the eyebrows as much as possible. “If you want to make very rapid progress on the spiritual path,” he used to tell us, “keep your mind always centered there.” This practice must be joined to, however, and supported by the heart’s devotion. For concentration at the spiritual eye, which is known as the ajna chakra, develops great will power, but it can also make one ruthless if it isn’t combined with the heart’s love. When will power is combined with love, great joy is the consequence.
Love and blessings
Altair and Mother
PORTALS OF PRESENCE – CHAPTER 3 – EDEN – YOGA OF MEDITATION
EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK ‘PORTALS OF PRESENCE’ BY ALTAIR SHYAM
CHAPTER 3 – EDEN – YOGA OF MEDITATION – PART 1
“We need no wings to go in search of God, but have only to find a place where we can be alone and still and look upon God present within us”
(St. Teresa of Avila)
After the yoga of dreams and visions I was guided by the yoga of meditation.
When we consider the great gifts for the return home that we have been given in this precious life as human beings, one of the greatest is meditation.
Think of it this way.
How can we describe the path to the Kingdom of God Within, which we can reach through stillness in meditation?
It is like a grain of mustard seed, this silence and stillness, which we all have access to, every moment, and which we can sow through deep presence in the field of our heart.
It is smaller than all the other seeds we sow on earth, such as desire for wealth or fame, yet it can touch the immeasurable.
It becomes greater than all the gold and jewels in the world and becomes a tree of life, for its branches spread with love and kindness and compassion to remind us of the bodhisattvas, angels and masters within, that we all are.
As divine light beings we are an integral part of the cosmos and God’s plan, and yet when we arrive on earth in a physical body it can be a strange adjustment. We can feel out of place, lonely and unaccustomed to the new elements and feelings, the fears that arise and the separation.
Yet in all this, deep inside our sacred heart we know a divine truth.
We have been given a secret.
A simple one, to guide our path of pathlessness.
“Be still and know God within.” (Psalm 46:10)
We are composed of consciousness and life force, which flow through the spine and nerves and can be directed outwardly or inwardly.
When our attention, which acts as the conductor of both consciousness and life force, is directed outwards, we find our powers are concentrated on the external world and matter.
When our attention is focused inwards on the point of divine perception at the Ajna chakra or space between the eyebrows, our powers are concentrated on the spiritual eye and the inner realms of divine consciousness.
We have studied with many Masters of Meditation, Jesus and the Buddha, Mary Magdalene and Guan Yin, Yogananda and the Dalai Lama and many others.
With deep devotion it is not necessary to have the Master in the flesh. Just as our current age has progressed technologically into physical communication methods that allow us to reach across the world with the internet, so the souls incarnating are sufficiently advanced in esoteric communication methods to navigate the Christ Grids and Buddha Fields to receive initiations and activations and transmissions that we are attuned to.
The Dalai Lama, for example, has assured pilgrims in the past that they will still receive their Kalachakra empowerment through the power of their faith, prayers and devotion. “Distance cannot dampen the sacred ties between a lama and a disciple. You can all pray from the far-flung areas in Tibet and I assure you that you will receive the Kalachakra empowerment,” he was quoted as having told them. “From the Kalachakra ground, I will keep the Tibetans inside Tibet in my deepest prayers.”
Kalachakra, or the Wheel of Time empowerment, prepares devotees to be reborn in Shambhala, a celestial kingdom which will vanquish the forces of evil in a future cosmic battle.
Just as the Dalai Lama said it is by the power of faith, prayers and devotion that we receive empowerment, in the same way Yogananda said, by the right method of devotion and meditation we open the gates of Heaven. When we are focused and still and the breath and mind are calm, a light begins to form at the third eye area. This light becomes the spiritual eye with deep concentration. Like any doorway, the spiritual eye, once we learn how to open it and enter it, allows us to surrender the consciousness into worlds of other dimensions. It is through this light, the gold light that we perceive the Holy Spirit, the blue light of the Christ Consciousness that we perceive the angels and saints, deities and Masters, and the white light that we enter cosmic consciousness and ascend to God the Father and Mother.
Love and blessings
Altair and Mother
PORTALS OF MEDITATION
Last night I was gifted with two visions of us while in deep meditation.
They were very simple.
The first, suddenly and spontaneously when I was very silent and still in meditation, was of the Buddha facing Us and in Union with the Mother of All Buddhas Prajnaparamita and in between them Babaji. The Buddha was facing Us a short distance away, then Babaji sat facing a little closer and then the Mother sat just in front with Her back to Us.
The second, overwhelmingly, as I lay down to sleep immediately following the first vision is connected to the first and somewhat more difficult to describe. The first is a Sign, that in Our meditations the Muladhara or base chakra energy is awake and connected to the crown chakra through the third eye as represented by the Union of the Mother (Prajna or Wisdom) the Buddha and Babaji. In the second vision We were ‘seated’ in the 1000 petalled crown chakra looking “down” the astral spine that runs up the center of the body (see NOTE) just in front of the physical body. As We watched, the 7 doors, which we call chakras through which the soul has descended into the body, were wide open, and We watched as the soul, through the process of silence and stillness of meditation, reascended, and each chakra like a Lotus with petals turned upwards, opened into worlds of much vaster dimensions than our own. Before Our awakened and astonished inner vision each door was transformed into strange worlds, the chakras transmuted into transcendent splendor. World upon world revealed itself in glory and magnificence. I am reminded of the Book of Revelations 1:19-20 which carefully veils this Secret in saying “the mystery of the seven stars…are the angels of the seven churches” in referring to these chakras, and also from the Book of Revelations 5:1-2 “and I saw a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals…who is worthy to open the book, and to loosen the seals?” This Book of Love (the soul’s path of reascension) has seven seals (the seven chakras or doors) which when loosened (through the ‘worthiness’ of deep and consistent practice of yoga, devotion, prayer and meditation) open us all to Revelations.
NOTE :
The PHYSICAL spine (vertebrae, spinal cord, etc) is not the same as the ASTRAL (energy) spine, where the chakras are located. They are different and located in different places and dimensions!
The Astral Spine is the place through which you should be “running” prana (life-force) when you are practicing Kriya Yoga. It can be imagined as a hollow tube, about an inch and a half in diameter, running very straight up from the base of the spine (Muladhara or 1st chakra area) going through the middle (central core) of the body (which places it mostly in front of the S-curve of the physical spine).
When it reaches the Medulla Oblongata (receptive pole of the 6th chakra) it curves slightly forward to the Spiritual Eye (point between the eyebrows – the positive pole of the 6th chakra) As you are practicing Kriya Yoga, the prana goes through chakras # 1-6, from to the bottom to top of your Astral Spine, and back down again.
Blessings to you as you practice the sacred technique of Kriya Yoga.
Love and Blessings
Altair and Mother