Namaskar Hi All, More on meditation and yoga ... It was in the late nineteenth century that yoga was introduced to the Western hemisphere from its Indian homeland. Yoga is a spiritual approach. However, it also assists in:: - physical fitness and health maintenance; and - therapeutic revitalisation. The full extent of yoga is discovered when one adopts it as a comprehensive lifestyle and spiritual discipline. This can only happen through practice and more so through the subtle mental and spiritual practices. The physical practices are meant to allow the body to become subtle to experience and adjust to the important mental and spiritual approach. In an ecological sense we now know that everything is interrelated and the same applies to the mental arena. Mental ecology is equally valid (ecopsychology as some may call it). Also the same applies to our consciousness that makes one aware of one's own existence and that this is only an expression of the same Infinite Consciousness (which when crudified or condensed is expressed as energy and then according to science is further compressed and perceived as matter). Spiritual ecology is recognising that Oneness. The word spiritual has been a bit misconstrued lately. Spiritual relates to pure consciousness. The consciousness of 'I exist' is a mere particularisation, expression or attribution of the Infinite Consciousness - of the Whole - which is also one's inner nature. In this sense one's self is the same as the Supreme Consciousness, but for the unit 'I feeling' which has mind as the doer-I (ego) and the body as a vehicle. The apparent differences seen by the objectivated mind only shows that these expressed attributes of the universe are but the particularisations of the flow of Infinite Consciousness, and thus the creative processes of the universe exist. The cultivation of awareness arises through the peculiar human ability to perceive some thing or entity very closely. Such attention is also possible at the mental and spiritual levels of existence and to cultivate a higher subtle awareness is the object of meditation. -- There was an article recently which goes some way to explaining this, entitled: Can Buddhists transcend mental reservations? By Steve Connor Science Editor 22 May 2003 Buddhists who meditate may be able to train their brains to feel genuine happiness and control aggressive instincts, research has shown. According to Owen Flanagan, professor of philosophy at Duke University in North Carolina, Buddhists appear to be able to stimulate the left prefrontal lobe - an area just behind the forehead - which may be why they can generate positive emotions and a feeling of well being. Writing in today's New Scientist, Professor Flanagan cites early findings of a study by Richard Davidson, of the University of Wisconsin, who used scanners to analyse the active regions of a Buddhist's brain. Professor Flanagan said the findings are "tantalising" because the left prefrontal lobes of Buddhist practitioners appear to "light up" consistently, rather than just during acts of meditation. "This is significant, because persistent activity in the left prefrontal lobes indicates positive emotions and good mood," he writes. The first Buddhist practitioner studied by Davidson showed more left prefrontal lobe activity than anyone he had ever studied before. "Buddhists are not born happy. It is not reasonable to suppose that Tibetan Buddhists are born with a 'happiness gene'. The most reasonable hypothesis is there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek", he writes. Another study of Buddhists by scientists at the University of California has also found that meditation might tame the amygdala, the part of the brain involved with fear and anger. Professor Flanagan writes: "Antidepressants are currently the favoured method for alleviating negative emotions, but no antidepressant makes a person happy. On the other hand, Buddhist meditation and mindfulness, which were developed 2,500 years before Prozac, can lead to profound happiness." -- Going further, meditation and the association with the universal that it creates is the best friend. On 14 September 1982, at the age of 61, P R Sarkar gave his first song - "Bandhu He Niye Calo" (Song of Effulgence). Over the course of the next eight years, his compositions in the Prabhata Samgiita series of songs was completed with a total of 5,018 songs. Meditation is the song of life - the song of the soul. One of the inner meanings of a song in Sarkar's series is: "In the first phase, You come to me in the form of so many small things, childhood needs. Then You come in the form of so many big expressions - water, air, sky. And then in the final phase, You come in the form of songs." An original extract and its English equivalent is below: Jana ajanar anubhuti pare Bhaber madhurii cirakat tare Rayeche tomar padayuga ghire Mayatiita madhumay Ogo mor giitimay - Extract from Song 16 (23 September 1982) Beyond the feelings of known and unknown The sweetness of spiritual realization Forever flows around Your feet Oh Lord of sweetness, beyond illusion Oh my Lord of songs. -- Don't forget those other songs also. Such as: * Many Many Rivers There are many many rivers, but all are one As they flow towards the ocean, mingle and become Part of one another, one big sea, Swelling, growing, overflowing Free, free, free. We are many many children but all are one As we run towards the truth, and mingle and become Part of one another, one family, Swelling growing overflowing, Free, free, free.