"During our conversation he started talking to me about Sri Vidya, the
highest of paths, followed only by accomplished Sanskrit scholars of
India. It is a path which joins raja yoga, kundalini yoga, bhakti yoga,
and advaita Vedanta. There are two books recommended by the teachers of
this path: The Wave of Bliss and The Wave of Beauty; the compilation of
the two books is called Saundaryalahari in Sanskrit. There is another
part of this literature, called Prayoga Shastra, which is in manuscript
form and found only in the Mysore and Baroda libraries. No scholar can
understand these spiritual yoga poems without the help of a competent
teacher who himself practices these teachings.
Later on I found that Sri Vidya and Madhu Vidya are spiritual practices
known to a very few-only ten to twelve people in all of India. I became
interested in knowing this science, and whatever little I have today is
because of it. In this science the body is seen as a temple and the
inner dweller, Atman, as God. A human being is like a miniature
universe, and by understanding this, one can understand the whole of the
universe and ultimately realize the absolute One. Finally, after
studying many scriptures and learning various paths, my master helped me
in choosing to practice the way of Sri Vidya" (245).
Work cited:
'Living with the Himalayan Masters'
by Swami Rama
Himalayan Institute Press, 2007
On 10/7/2013 7:05 PM, s3raph...@yahoo.com wrote:
Thanks for the link authfriend. I can see why MMY would approve that
account!
Richard's posts seem to confirm that Guru Dev most likely did have a
Sri Yantra.
I still think that the tale of Maharishi bumping off his master,
stealing his jewelled Sri Yantra and then heading south to meet with
Indian magicians who teach him how to unlock its secrets would make a
great movie: Maharishi invokes asuras who promise him unlimited wealth
and power - the CGI people are given free rein at this point. The
asuras' acolyte (film-maker Kenneth Anger) is instructed to prepare
the way amongst rock royalty like the Stones and the Beatles . . . and
so it goes. Scorcese would lap this up.
A while back I read Our Spiritual Heritage: An Informal History of the
Masters of the Sankaracharya Tradition by Lynn Nappe (a former TM
teacher) - the story of each of the masters of the Shankaracharya
tradition. The entry for Guru Dev includes an overview of his
meditation advice that is most certainlynot TM. Lynne Nappe glosses
this by saying Guru Dev's own technique was different but he wanted a
simple variant suitable for the "housekeeper". I guess we're all
housekeepers . . . housewives or househusbands.
---In fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com, <noozguru@...> wrote:
On 10/07/2013 01:02 PM, Richard J. Williams wrote:
So, where did the meditation of SBS come from?
Meditation is a technique that is common all over India,
especially in
the sect of the Sri Vidya. In that tradition they meditate on the
bija
mantra of Saraswati. It's the same bija mantra given out in TM
initiation. It's the same technique - it's a meditation using a bija
mantra of Saraswati.
Let's review what we know about SBS.
Rajaram Mishra, later to become Swami Bramhananda Saraswati, was
born on
Thursday, 21 December, 1868 in village Gana, which is close to
the city
of Ayodhya, in North India. Rajaram was enrolled at the Sanskrit
Institute at Kashi at the age of eight and later became a student of
Swami Krishnananda Saraswati of Utter Kashi.
http://www.paulmason.info/gurudev/parampara.html
Are we agreed so far?
So, we can assume that the SBS learned meditation from SKS who was
initiated by his guru. All the gurus in the Saraswati lineage
meditate
on the bija of Saraswati. Their headquarters is at Sringeri.
According
to the Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath, the meditation technique
used in TM
originated with the Vedic sage Naryana. It's the same meditation
that is
used by all the Shankaracharyas in that lineage.
So, the TM bija mantras came from SBS, who was a member of the
dasanami
order of the Saraswati dandi sannyasins, founded by the Adi Shankara.
The bijas used in TM have been around for ages. And they didn't
have to come from anyone.
.