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Should Free
Registered User
(1/8/02 1:03 am)
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ezSupporter
 Interiorization Of The Mind - rigidity vs. flexibility
Interiorization of the mind is no doubt the cornerstone of the spiritual path. If that cornerstone in missing, we are wasting our time and we better move to better pastures. However, there are many approaches to interiorizing the mind.

In my last adventure with religion and spiritual paths, the instructions on how to interiorize the mind, called meditation there, were as follow:

1) Start by a prayer of a certain kind
2) Do the Energization Exercises (a series of 38 precise exercises that are supposed to be practiced EXACTLY in a certain way).
3) End the EE with another prayer, of a certain kind.
4) Sit down to meditate in a precise posture -- very rigid and tensing as you may expect.
5) Begin your meditation with another prayer.
6) Continue with 6 to 12 “20-20-20s” a precise breathing exercise to oxygenate the body.
7) Then practice six times a precise tensing and relax exercise to relax the body for meditation.
8) Then practice Hong Sau (a precise type of concentration technique to focus the mind)
9) Continue with the Om technique -- a precise form of meditation.
10) Do your Mahamudras (a certain type of stretching technique)
11) Do your Kriya (a very precise Pranayama Technique)
12) Then do three Yoti Mudras ( a specific technique to see the light)
13) Continue with a period of stillness (again a certain precise meditation technique).
14) Finish your meditation with a period of devotion and then a final prayer.
15 )If you have time pray for others and for humanity.

The whole routine takes about 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours to complete; and you SHOULD do it twice a day -- morning and night.

Sounds great isn’t it? -- the highway to the Infinite? Not necessarily, it may also be the highway to a mental institution.

The Zen master, sitting in the lotus posture, is surrounded by his new disciples eager to learn how to meditate from fathomless wisdom (how to interiorize the mind). The master quietly says “let us meditate.” He close his eyes and silence takes over -- the instructions are finished. Absurd? Who can learn to meditate without any instructions whatsoever? Not necessarily...

The art of interiorizing the mind is buried inside all of us. We know how to do it. And furthermore, we know EXACTLY the most effective method for our nature and personality type. The Zen Master does not contaminate the mind of his disciples with instructions or preconceptions about the best way to meditate, or sermons on which is the fastest highway to the Infinite for every biped in this world. It allows them to be authentic and creative in their approach to interiorization of the mind.

Between this two extremes there is a third possibility which I personally like the most. There are hundreds of techniques to interiorize the mind. It is a good idea to learn some of them. It is also a good idea to create our owns. Think of each one as a tool in a tool box. When we sit to meditate, we look at the tool box and following our intuitive feeling we choose one. We use it for a while and if we get tired of it, following our feelings again we take a second one and use it to deepen our relaxation. We continue to do this in order to go deeper in our physical and mental relaxation or meditation.

Rigidity may work for some. Open ending instructions work better for others. We are all different. Where are you?


kev
Unregistered User
(1/8/02 10:27 pm)
Reply 		rigidity
So true, so true!
I practiced that sequence for 15 years or more. It took me that long to understand that it is meant just for a while but the Mother Center never even got close to suggesting a more personal approach. It's like an assembly line!

I was of a devotional nature and most of the times I was already 'there', inside, by reading Yogananda's books or by other devotional practices. Yet I was "going back" to practice Hong Sau and the other stuff rigidly, militarily!
After 10 years I understood that I 'll never get what I needed from people who knew me a bit from my letters or whom I met a few times and I took things into my own hands. It worked very well! I never had fastest and better results!
I believe some routine is fine and necessary for some time, expecially if one is consistent but then.... one must become creative, esperiment a bit within reason and occasionally outside of it! Mostly, it is important to experiment with the techniques themselves, not changing them but trying to learn them with different approaches and see how it goes and especially it is important to have some fun and relax.... you 'll be surprised how things turn around and you want just live inside and look forward to it!
Above all follow mostly your inspiration, your intuition checked by honest self analysis. You have to trust yourself, Yogananda can be giving you tools but it is your work, your self realization you are working for not for a rigid idea certain people like to use for their own reasons. If Yogananda is a true guru, a real master he will guide the sincere disciple mainly thru his/her intuition.
He gave us the tools so that we don't have to go to God thru mediators, monks, rabbis, priests or ...beasts.
Get your cellular direct line to God and ring his numbers a bit, see what happens!

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