Philippe*

Thanks, actually I know already many things about these spiritualities, but I would like to know how it was considered by indian people, i.e. from a social point of view. I am not truly interested in hindu religion on the whole but rather by several kinds of yoga. Though I lurk on the IIDB forum (one could ask why ?), I am myself deeply into free and creative spirituality and Yoga, I am a theist according to the concept of the Divine as exposed for instance in Yoga both personal and impersonal. I plan in the future to travel to India in Tamil Nadu with yogic fellows if possible, but I would like to go to some places in North India too.

Philippe

Philippe*

Yes, I see well what you mean, the good side of this is that some admit there is not only a single true path. People "outside" are not considered like hellbound.

Philippe

harishsubramanian

Spirituality in India ,among the common people ,has been reduced to rituals,and merely a conceapt for intellectual discussion,especially among the western educated Indians..The rurals,may have a better idea on spirituality,but not much beyond blind belief. any respectable sadhu, as long as the sadhu does not preach or follow immorality, is accepted by the society as a true sadhu.Of course there are a few fundamentalist sects like the vaishnavas,who dont accept anyone ,who does not abide,by their vaishnava rules-They are in a minority

There is a big problem,if you intend to do your journey into India.There are so many fake sadhus,that,you could easily be conned.In fact the journey might end up tougher than you imagine.If you are talking about spiritualists,who talk more intellectually than spiritually(by spirituality i mean-something that is out of actual experience,rather than mere bookish knowledge),you can find some.That is in my opinion of no use at all.
I have heard that there are some real siddhas,around in arunachala hills(tiruvannamalai 5 hours from chennai).The place used to be serene and quiet a decade ago,now there are a whole lot of people who come on pilgrimages,and on some seasons,it could really get very very noisy.There are may be some real yogis in the deep forest of the hills.
I can give you some hints to identify real yogis-
1.He Will be silent,and seldom talk,and if at all he prefers the company of people,the devotees will usually be a highly spiritual group.
2.He will seldom boast of his spiritual powers.The yogis believe that if they perform miracles often,their powers diminish,so if it is a man who says loudly to all and sundry that he is capable of great powers he could be a conman,or atmost a lay tantric.
3.He will spend more time meditating than preaching,his method of instruction will be to show the way,than to spoon feed.

Having said this if you cant find a true yogi in arunachala hills(I am very much doubtfull if you can find an advanced practitioner anywhere else in south India) ,you must look for a yogi somewhere in the reaches of himalayas,especially in those parts,where there is a rumour that yogis live,but where there are very few people.yogis as I said do not like the company of people,as their meditation would get disturbed.

Divine life society of swami sivananda(in Rishikesh-himalayas),
is an organisation that really knows what they are talking of ,when they speak on yoga and spirituality.There are some senior disciples of sivananda(who is no longer alive),who can be contacted to know on yoga,and advanced spiritual practices.They will inturn be able to guide you to right,yogis,if they believe that you are sincere enough.

Philippe*

Thanks for your advices harishsubramanian, I back up your message,

Actually I would like to go to visit Pondicherry, Auroville and the ashram, Vadalur the place where Ramalinga lived, places related to mahasiddhas and yoga, meet people and yogis, discover another culture aso. I am satisfied with what I have here I know true spiritual seekers that are friends of mine with whom I can exchange, I have no need to go to India to seek a guru for guidance. I practise Integral Yoga from Sri Aurobindo in a free way, I have been initiated to Kriya too, I have been here and there in the mainstream religions and more marginal movements and I am always openminded even to atheism and secular humanism as you see lol. Yoga is for me a wonderful tool for spiritual evolution, it is not a goal in itself.

Are you a yogi yourself ?

Philippe

harishsubramanian

I am a beginner to yoga,though I dont do yoga keeping in mind health issues.
I basically practise breathing and some self contemplation.But you have to be carefull about everything,if you seriously need to grow spiritually.
1.I hope you understand that food affects the flow of energy in the body,and one must be careful on food.you can restrict yourself to "low fat vegetarian foods",but that is not going to be sufficient,you must be clever and allow your body to evolve,in a manner,that,it never feels heavy when food is consumed.
2.while meditating,you must choose a seat,that will not absorb or conduct your internal energy to a large extent.every gain in energy,must be preserved.
3.your main goal must be to keep your body still,for many hours,i have heard that advanced practitioners can do it for days on end,part of the process involves low metabolism.,dont worry about your mind at the initial stage.let your mind wander to some extent.first control your body,then you can worry about controlling your thoughts.one step at a time-is the key,as intense meditation can sap your energy,and make you feel tired.I hope you understand that for fusion reaction to happen,energy needs to be supplied.you are trying to unite the diverse nature of your body,through yoga.
Be slow and gradual in experimenting,as bad experiments can lead to awfull results,including serious problems like cancer or ulcers.
4.meditate in a place where there is free flow of fresh air,purified by green plants(i am talking of a co2 less atmosphere)
5.I dont agree with people who say,that one must keep mind free from all thought.That would be possible,but it would be misleading.Start meditating on something,that you believe strongly is a never ending source of positive energy.Nothing could be more fruitfull for meditation.But dont get dissapointed if,initial practice is not that fruitfull,question is ,is all this helping you control yourself,if it is,then continue,else change the strategy.
Purpose of thoughtfull meditation is to enable you to unite your thoughts into one focussed thought.a central souce of thinking ,rather than diverse behaviours.You must undertstand truly why you feel,like itching,or even how long it takes for an injury to enable you to feel pain.You should be able to judge,the difference in amount of air intake in your body everytime you breathe.all these are indications that you are finally beginning to control your mind.You can set yourself such parameters and short term goals,and handle them one by one,little by little.

I am stating all this from,my personal experience and what I have read.Hope you find something new in what I have said.

Philippe*

It is always a pleasure to share, I don't know whether you know Integral Yoga, it is rather atypical without any obligatory specific practices (though the sadhakas do some) except the aspiration for the Divine. It speaks of the evolution of the beings towards a divinized humanity, the next step of the manifestation of the Divine through the Supramental in this world. It is mainly a bhakti yoga. http://www.miraura.org/teaching.html
As Sri Aurobindo said "All Life is Yoga", it is a kind of "invisible" Yoga where all the life is taken as a field of experiences. So it requires the surrender of your whole being to the Divine, your body, your vital, your mental, all your life. You open your heart to the Shakti to be guided.

Philippe

Philippe*

Here is a quote from Sri Aurobindo that explains how to deal with this Yoga :

This yoga demands a total dedication of the life to the aspiration for the discovery and embodiment of the Divine Truth and to nothing else whatever. To divide your life between the Divine and some outward aim and activity that has nothing to do with the search for the Truth is inadmissible. The least thing of that kind would make success in the yoga impossible.
You must go inside yourself and enter into a complete dedication to the spiritual life. All clinging to mental preferences must fall away from you, all insistence on vital aims and interests and attachments must be put away, all egoistic clinging to family, friends, country must disappear if you want to succeed in yoga. Whatever has to come as outgoing energy or action, must proceed from the Truth once discovered and not from the lower mental or vital motives, from the Divine Will and not from personal choice or the preferences of the ego.

Sri Aurobindo

Philippe

Dharma

What were the spiritual attainments of Aurobindo that might interest someone who is interested in Siddhas...? I don't believe Aurobindo was more attained than Vivekananda or someone else who might have had some minor spiritual accomplishments...in other words, Aurobindo was a yogic small fry..
:snooze: I always look at the demonstratable powers of someone before I read their books, and generally I haven't seen any modern day published yogi with any great attainments...

Philippe*

They have in common the same quest of the Divine in the matter, so the unity of the spirit, the soul but also the body with the Supreme. As he is dead he can not perform powers for you if I understand well, and I doubt he was interested in showing these things, and one can get great powers from asuric forces through yoga or esoteric means and imposes his dominion on some people, like a snake behind a mask. So I can only give you the advice to read as it is not easy to grasp unless you can travel through some astral planes to meet him personally.
Among modern published yogis that have "demonstrated" something, in Kriya Yoga you have Yogananda, "Autobiography of a yogi", his corpse didn't decompose after death, Hariharananda, that has stopped his heartbeats and his breath under medical control showing he reached the nirbikalpa samadhi.
But all of that are by-products of yoga for those who seek for the divine light. You can read their works, for they are of great value.

Philippe

Dharma

of course they must demonstrate something, as a physicist must demonstrate his true understanding by building an atom smasher...

even the Buddha demonstrated stuff simply by being...people tried to kill hiim several times and alone stopped all attempts by doing absolutely nothing...NOW THAT"S ATTAINMENT!