Namaskar Greetings All Lets look at 2 common words and related matters found in yogic philosophy - aum (om) and namaskar / namaste. Followed by some interesting observations. Dharma --- Aum 'Aum' represents the mundane expression of the Cosmic Consciousness; 'aum' represents the worldly expression of Cosmic Consciousness. In each and every human being there is sleeping divinity, divinity in latent form, divinity in dormant form. When that sleeping divinity is aroused, stops sleeping, is in a wakeful stage, what happens? A person will acquire immense power. He or she may become omniscient, all-knowing will know everything, without going through any book, without going to any library will know everything of this universe, because that person will be one with the Cosmic Consciousness. The person is Cosmic Consciousness, because the sleeping divinity has been aroused. The sleeping divinity in the human body lies in the lowermost portion of your backbone. That lowermost bone is called kula in Sanskrit. That sleeping divinity is called kulakun'd'alinii. Kun'd'alinii means "in coiled form". It is sleeping, and when it is aroused, is elevated, by dint of your spiritual practices (meditation), by dint of your dhya'na (meditation), c'han, chen, zen, it will go upwards. When it comes up, that is, touches the controlling point of the pineal gland, one will become one with Cosmic Consciousness. One will become Cosmic Consciousness. Now the spot, the kula, where divinity is in sleeping form, is found in each and every human being. When by Tantra and yoga it is aroused and brought upwards by applying a special force, that special force is called diipanii. Raising it, elevating it, it finally becomes one with Cosmic Consciousness when it comes here [crown of the head]. Now the seat where the kula is, the seat where the kulakun'd'alinii is, has got existence, and wherever there is any action or there is any existence, there is an acoustic root. There is a sound for it. (Because of your presence, air, light, everything - every expression's flow - is barred, the flow is checked. You are standing here; air comes; because of your existence, it will refract or reflect; so your existence also has got a certain sound.) The existence of the seat of that kula, where that kulakun'd'alinii, that coiled serpent, sleeps, also has an acoustic root, and there is a certain psychic place allotted for it. That psychic spot is called in old Sanskrit man'ipadma, or maha'man'ipadma, or munipadma' or maha'munipadma'. (Maha'muni is a name of Lord Buddha. Maha'muni means "great sage".) So, it is said "Using aum, I remember Cosmic Consciousness; and man'ipadma is the seat of that coiled serpentine, that sleeping divinity, in the human body. I remember that entity also."* * This refers to the mantra: Onm' man'ipadme hummm. There are so many sounds. Each and every thing has got some sound. One wants to fight against internal and external enemies. You have enemies in your mind, you have enemies outside your mind. There are so many depraving forces, they are all your enemies. When you want to fight against the mind, a particular flow is created in your mind, a particular flow. The acoustic root of that flow is hummm. [Makes fighting gesture.] The hummm sound is created. The hummm sound is the acoustic root of fight. When you are to raise your sleeping divinity, elevate the sleeping divinity from the lowermost bone of your body, the man'ipadma, the lowermost seat, you will also fight against so many adversities and pass through the entire cord, the entire backbone of your body. After so many fights, you will be able to elevate the sleeping divinity in your body to the status, or to the stance, of Cosmic Consciousness. Cosmic Consciousness touches the human body through this point [crown of the head]. It is called Brahmarandhra. Brahma means Cosmic Consciousness and randhra means 'cord', the cord through which Cosmic Consciousness touches the body. It is the pineal gland controlling all fifty, that is, fifty times two times ten, one thousand, propensities. One thousand propensities of the human mind are controlled by this pineal gland. By the pituitary gland only the conscious, subconscious and unconscious portions of your mind are controlled. Now, just to raise the coiled serpentine, your sleeping divinity, you have to fight against many fetters, so many fetters of animality, so there is a fight, and this should be represented by the sound hummm. So the old Maha'ya'niis used this incantation, Onm' man'ipadme hummm. Now it is clear. I think perhaps the monks do not know, though they should know, the inner meaning of what they say. I think it is very interesting and very pleasing, although it has been a bit terse. Shrii Shrii Anandamurti Extracts mainly from: ACOUSTIC ROOTS A'nanda Vacana'mrtam Part 14 DISCOURSES ON TANTRA VOLUME 1 25 August 1979, Taipei -- Namaskar What does namaskar mean. Often we hear of namaste. What is the difference? In Yoga we hear the words Namaskar and Namaste. What is appropriate? The Sanskrit is namaskaara (masc) meaning 'salutation'. If you ever pay salutations to anyone, you salute only the Supreme One and no one else. The practice is, if you pay salutations to a human being, you should say "Namaskar", but if you pay salutations to the Supreme Consciousness, you say "Namaste." Namaste means "I salute Thee". In the yogic traditions, human beings are greeted with the word "Namaskar" because they are considered to be the expressions of the Supreme Being. They should not be greeted with "Namaste". In the case of the Supreme Consciousness either "Namaste" or "Namaskar" is permissible. After all God is only a member of your family. Namaskar, in relation to the Supreme Consciousness can be done when commencing meditation or undergoing any spiritual practices. Namaste may be used for starting meditation, but Namaskar is a better use as then one only needs to use Namaskar for both, ie for people as expressions of the Divine and for the Supreme as the Divine. As per yoga and Tantra, to Supreme Consciousness one does Namaste (or Namaskar). The meaning? Namah plus te -- "I pay respect to You" -- Namaste. And Namaska'ra means, "I am paying my respects". And that is why you may use the word Namaste only for the Cosmic Consciousness, but Namaska'ra for both the Supreme Consciousness and to the unit beings - human beings - of the world. So, there is sloka (verse) that says: Tadekam' jagatsa'ks'iirupam' namamah. "If I am to pay respect to anybody, I am to pay respect to You only." Mryumrtyu namamyaham: If salutation is to be done, it is to be done to the Supreme Entity. In Sanskrit, Namah plus Tubhyam make Namastubhyam and Namah plus Te make Namaste -- we do Namah to you. For human beings it is Namaskara - Namah Karomi - I greet, I salute - here there is no Tubhyam or Te, ie you. For human beings, Namaste or Namastubhyam is not to be said, Namaskara is to be said. But for Parama Purusa (Supreme Consciousness) you can say anything you like - Namaste, Namastubhyam, Namaskara. And if you do not wish to say Namaste or Namaskara, it does not matter. After all God is only a member of your family! Extracts from talks by: Shrii Shrii Anandamurti --- Nityam' shuddham' You can do Namaskar before you commence meditation and Namaskar after you finish meditation. Also just before finishing meditation it is nice to re-acknowledge your connection to the Universal Truth. So you can recite in your mind (if you like Sanskrit): Nityam' shuddham' nira'bha'sam' niraka'ram nirainjanam Nityabodham' cida'nandam' gururbrahma nama'myaham. Its translation into English is: I offer my salutation to God (Brahma), in the form of / who is the Guru, who is eternal, ever pure, without replica, formless, absolutely unblemished, and ever ensconced in the deep, intuitional stance and cognitive bliss. It is the first verse only of the Guru Gita (compromising originally 3 verses). It is used mainly to end collective meditation, but can be used for ending individual meditation. --- Re: For those who worry about spelling ... Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe. --- Re: For those who worry about life ... Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun every year. Birthdays are good for you; the more you have, the longer you live. Happiness comes through doors you didn't even know you left open. Ever notice that the people who are late are often much jollier than the people who have to wait for them? Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us. If supermarkets are lowering prices every day, how come nothing is free yet? You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person. Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened. We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colours ... but they all exist very nicely in the same box. A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour. Have an awesome day, and know that someone who thinks you're great has thought about you today! --- Re: For those who worry about living in the 21st century ... You know you're living in 2005 when: You accidentally enter your password on the microwave. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3. You e-mail your mate who works at the desk next to you. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they do not have e-mail addresses When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "0" or "9" to get an outside line. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies. You got this e-mail from a friend that never talks to you anymore, except to send you jokes from the Internet. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news. Your supervisor doesn't have the ability to do your job. Contractors out number permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards. You read this entire list, and keep nodding and smiling. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to your friends. --- THE CLOWN CHAKRA Scientists from the Clown Academy have discovered a new source of healing. It is a psychic energy point located between the heart chakra and the throat chakra. It is called the Clown Chakra. If people are feeling miserable; if they have financial problems; if their relationship situation is the pits; if they are in ill health; if they have a need to sue people; if they find fault with their brother or sister; then obviously their Clown Chakra is closed. When this happens, the scientists have observed under a high-powered microscope that the cells of every organ display a sad face; and when the Clown Chakra is open and functioning normally, the cells display a happy face. The scientists realized that if a person is ill, it is because his or her mind has projected guilt onto the cells of the body and has forced out the love that is normally found within each cell of the body. The cells are therefore saying, "I Lack Love", or ILL for short. The scientists also discovered that all disease is due to the fact that the cells are "out of ease" or "dis-eased". When the Clown Chakra is opened and working (or rather, playing) properly, the psychic mechanism sucks up misery, pain, anger, resentment, grievances, unhappiness and so on, and converts the energy into tiny red heart-shaped balloons consisting of some micro, but vital, energy (positive microvita). These red heart balloons contain Cosmic Love and Joy. These microvita balloons are directed to the "dis-eased" cell or situation, and a happy face appears instantly. When the light enters the darkness, the darkness is gone. Sometimes these red heart balloons when in a more stronger physical form are called endorphins, due to the fact that when anyone experiences them the feeling of separation ends - they experience being back home with the Cosmic Father and hence are no longer an orphan. This is the well known "end orphan" (endorphin) effect. So if you think someone is attacking you, the Clown Scientists recommend that you visualize sending that person red heart shaped balloons of positive microvita filled with Cosmic Love and Joy. Re-member to keep your clown chakra open, so that you experience God's Will. By Swami Beyondananda (stage name used by Steve Bhaerman, self described as an author, humorist, and workshop leader ) http://www.wakeuplaughing.com/ --- Near-death experience researched PM Archive Wednesday, 25 October 2000 Reporter: James Grouber http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s204254.htm COMPERE: Science has taken a step forward in solving the mystery of near-death experiences. Though some, like Kerry Packer after his heart attack, claim they've been to the other side and there's nothing there, others who've been revived report having seen bright lights and other visions. A year long study of heart attack survivors by two British doctors suggests that consciousness can exist after the brain has stopped functioning. James Grouber has this report. JAMES GROUBER: Whether it be through fiction or religious devotion, the concept of life after death has always proved somewhat of a holy grail, and ultimately one of the world's enduring mysteries. Now a study based on interviews with survivors of heart attacks at Southampton General Hospital in England suggest there's scientific evidence to back up what many people have believed through the ages. The findings, to be published in the Medical Journal Resuscitation next year, are based on 63 cardiac arrest patients who survived and were interviewed within a week. Most had no recollection of consciousness but some did, and the British researchers say these people met the strict criteria for assessing near-death experiences. The patients recounted feelings of peace and joy, heightened sense, seeing a bright light, encountering a mystical being and coming to a 'point of no return'. The researchers say the initial research suggests people can be conscious, even when their brain's stopped functioning. One of the researchers, Dr Sam Parnier [phonetic], says he started off a sceptic towards the whole idea of life after death but now he reckons there's something going on. But Pravinda Sachdev [phonetic], a Professor of Neuro-Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales, isn't so convinced. PRAVINDA SACHDEV: I think there are various questions one would probably pose and the first question perhaps to pose is that is there a consistent picture of something like a near-death experience? And I think the answer to that will probably be yes, that there have been descriptions of these experiences that go back a long way. In fact the first study of this kind was published over a hundred years' ago and there have been reports from various settings [phonetic] to suggest that there are fairly consistent descriptions of these experiences by patients who have survived a close encounter with death. Now the second question is - is this experience unique to near-death situations or can you have similar experiences in other situations? And the answer to that would be yes, you can have very similar experiences in other situations. For example some of the transcendental experiences reported by mystics are very similar in description. Some of the experiences under the effects of certain drugs are very similar. You can get similar experiences under the effect of hypnosis. JAMES GROUBER: So does this rule out the possibility that consciousness, or the soul, can remain when the brain no longer works? Professor Sachdev doubts it. PRAVINDA SACHDEV: I think the very fact that these people who report these experiences or are reporting them means that they really did not die. Of course, they had a period when they probably had a reduced brain function and it could have been to the extent that the brain function was not recordable on EEGs. JAMES GROUBER: Dr Denis Velacoulis [phonetic], a Neuro-Psychiatrist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, says there's no doubt near-death experiences have some scientific basis. But those of life after death are still a long way from being proved. DENIS VELACOULIS: These patients that are described on the basis of this article and in past articles, there's no suggestion that any of these patients have actually died in the sense of having brain death. So brain activity continues. Even though the heart may have stopped for a brief period there still has been brain activity and it's very likely that the alternative explanations are more realistic explanations of the near-death experience than that these patients have been beyond and back. COMPERE: Dr Denis Velacoulis, a Neuro-Psychiatrist at the Royal Melbourne Hospital ending that report from James Grouber.