On Sun, Nov 6, 2011 at 4:50 PM, Vaj <vajradh...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > > > On Nov 6, 2011, at 2:05 PM, Tom Pall wrote: > > I suspect Maharishi didn't talk about chakras because he truly did > practice Yogurt Lite. We'd do a lifetime of meditation and the <Begin > laughter> sidhis </End laughter> then eventually reconvene a few centuries > in the future to join into doing some serious work on our karma and > consciousness. Maharishi's final words to Invincible: fine points about > consciousness. Nothing with respect to the subtle or gross body. Perhaps > this is because Maharishi spent his life in denial. His heart, kidneys, > eyes, hearing and peripheral nerves were destroyed by diabetes he refused > to treat. After a while you start to wonder if his constant references to > "the" neck, "the" heart, "the" body weren't just for emphasis. Perhaps he > was happily trying to be dissociated from his body. BTW, SSRS says we > don't drop the body. The body drops us. > > > > It depends on the practitioner. It's not unusual to be trained in > transferring the consciousness outside the body - and it's not unusual to > find 'it works' before you ever die. > > --- > > An old and interesting account of learning phowa, transference of > consciousness. > > Late in my life, I practised Pho-wa ["transference"; Skt.: saMkrAnti], an > esoteric Tibetan technique for rebirth in the Pure Land, which had not been > introduced in China before. The teaching is based on the principle that > when someone who is due to be reborn in the Western Paradise is dying, his > consciousness will leave through the Aperture of Brahma (in the top of his > skull): thus one is taught to repeat mantras to open this aperture and to > practise regularly so that one can follow a similar path at the moment of > death. In 1933, when I was sixty-one, I had already received this Dharma > from the Tibetan guru No Na who had urged me to practise it at home > (which I did) unsuccessfully. In the spring of 1937, when I was > sixty-five, I heard that the guru Sheng Lu was teaching this Dharma in Nanking > and that all those participating in the four previous meetings had > succeeded in opening the Aperture of Brahma. As the fifth and last meeting > was soon to take place at the Vairochana temple, I went to Nanking and put > my name down to attend it. > > I arrived on the first of April to receive the initiation, which was very > much more complicated than the one previously given me by the guru No Na. I > was taught a vajra mantra as the first step in the practice. It was not a > long one but the method of visualization was very elaborate. It had to be > repeated one hundred thousand times, but since I had only a few days at my > disposal, I did so as many times as I could. > > After the first day, I stayed in a lodging house and closed the door of my > room to concentrate on repeating the mantra. Before midday on the ninth, I > had done so sixty-two thousand times, and in the afternoon I returned to > the Vairocana temple where thirty-nine of us assembled. I was told that > this was considerably more than at any ofthe other four gatherings. The > guru shaved a small hairless circle in the centre of my crown so that later > he could sec if the Aperture of Brahma had opened in order to plant a stalk > in it. > > On the tenth we began to isolate ourselves for meditation. In the main > hall an altar was set up with all its majesty, before which the guru led us > to practise the Dharma. Every day there were four sessions each lasting two > hours. The practice consisted in visualizing Amitayus Buddha sitting on the > top of the head and in imagining in the body a blue psychic tube which was > red inside and stretched from the crown of the head to the perineum. Within > this tube in the lower belly below the navel was a bright pearl which rose > (up it) to the heart (centre). (When the pearl was visualized in that > centre) I shouted the mantric syllable HIK, forcing up the pearl which > followed the sound and thrust through the Aperture of Brahma to reach the > heart of Amitayus. Then I whispered the syllable GA which caused the pearl > to descend from the Buddha's heart and return through the opening to my > lower belly. At each session we shouted with such force that we became > hoarse and exhausted, and dripped perspiration although it was still very > cold. Seeing that we were tired, the guru chanted in Sanskrit and exhorted > us to follow his example and relax. This we did four or five times in each > two hour session. > > Now I was already experienced in (the art of) meditation and had cleared > the central psychic passage (in the spine) so that I made remarkable > progress on the eleventh. During the first session a red light shone from > the crown of my head and (I seemed) to grow taller. In the fourth session, > I felt (as if) the Aperture of Brahma was being bored through by a > sharp-pointed tool and was repeatedly hit by the ascending pearl. When I > went to bed a great white light shone from my head. > > On the twelfth I practised as on the previous day. In the second session, > I felt (as if) my skull was swelling and cracking and that my cheek-bones > were being torn apart. In the third session, my head (seemed to) stretch > up, tier upon tier, each (time) seeming to crack. > > On the thirteenth in the first session, I felt (as if) my brain was being > pierced from all sides by sharp-pointed tools. At first I felt that my > skull was very thick, but that the continuous boring had made it thinner. > In the third session, I suddenly felt (as if) the upper part of my body > was completely void while a great light shone from my head. > > On the fourteenth in the first and second seesions, the bright pearl > shot up through the cleared passage in the central channel to the foot of > the Buddha on my crown. This was different from my previous experience of > (my head) swelling and cracking when the channel was not yet quite through > my skull. In the fourth session I felt (as if) my neck was splitting to > make room for a column which went straight down to my stomach and > intestines. This was an actual swelling of the central channel which, > untill then, had merely been visualized. > > On the fifteenth, in the first session, I felt that there was a hole in > the crown of my head. In the second session, the guru moved his seat close > to the window where there was abundant sunlight. He then called us to come > forward, one after another, so that he (could check whether) the Aperture > of Brahma in our heads had opened and could plant in it an auspicious stalk > as proof of its opening. If there was a real opening, the stalk was drawn > into it without breaking the skin. I was among the first twenty-eight > persons whose crowns were opened that day. As to the other eleven the stalk > could not be planted. They were consequently required to continue the > practice for a few more sessions. As to those who had achieved the opening, > they were excused further practice but were asked to enter the hall to use > the power of visualization to give (spiritual) aid to the unsuccessful > initiates so that they too could achieve the same result speedily. > > On the sixteenth, in the first session, nine people had their Apertures of > Brahma opened. There remained only a nun and a lay woman whose crowns were > still closed. The nun had been in Japan where she had practised (Shingon) > meditation and had acquired good experience, yet she had difficulty in > opening the Aperture. This shows that in the study of the Dharma, one > should bury pride and prejudice which can hinder realization. As to the lay > woman, she was of dull potentiality because of her advanced age. The guru > ordered them to sit in front of him and used his spiritual power to help > them. In the following session, with spiritual help from the whole > gathering, they finally succeeded, but not without difficulty, in opening > their Apertures of Brahma. > > After this, I practised the chih-kuan meditation as my main method, with > pho-wa as a complementary one. On the twenty-fourth of May, during a > meditation, after I had achieved stillness of mind, my chest emitted a > light which gradually expanded to envelop my whole body, forming a bright > sphere. Previously either only my head or my chest had shone and been > bright, but this radiance had not embraced my whole body. In this > experience (of total brightness), I still felt the presence of the Ego. > > On the twenty-sixth of the same month, after achieving stillness of mind, > my back now emitted a light which soon engulfed all my body. I experienced > unusual happiness but still felt my body was there, for I had not yet > achieved absolute voidness. > > On the twenty-seventh, after achieving stillness of mind, I emitted a > light which attained a great height and seemed to reach the clouds in the > sky. My consciousness also expanded with this light and then gradually > returned (to my body) through the Aperture of Brahma. > > On the thirty-first, after stilling my mind, the upper half of my body > emitted a light as on the preceding day. Then I felt in my lower belly heat > as intense as boiling water; it then emitted light and the lower half of my > body became void. This state differed from the previous ones. > > On the tenth of June, after calming the mind, all my body radiated and the > light was much brighter than before. I felt (as if) I had no head which was > replaced by a transparent brightness. > > On the fourteenth all my body radiated with both its upper and lower parts > being really bright. > > On the seventeenth, after entering the state of stillness, my body > radiated and I felt (as if) the light illumined my mind's eye and was of a > white radiance, engulfing all my surroundings and forming a great sphere. > > > On the eighteenth, upon entering the state of stillness, all my body > radiated and the light was much whiter. > > All round me was transparent brightness like a searchlight shining upon > the four quarters while my consciousness roamed about in the great void. > This brightness then shrunk and entered my lower belly; after being > subjected to rigid control, it entered my legs and the my arms, finally to > return to my head. > > Vaj, this is kind of long but very amusing. I think in my spare time I'm going to take my imagination to the gates of Hell and practice tugging on them. Perhaps with sufficient practice I'll be able to tug them open with my intention. We'll know when there are all these astral bats flying out of Hell that I succeeded.
