Living on light

[Chiron]

Christi I have heard from a very reputable source that chocolate heavily pollutes the nadis and should be avoided at all costs!  (Says the hypocrite who just ate 4 pieces of a chocolate cake during a b-day party, but it was my first time in months though so maybe this will encourage you to avoid it!)

"After the retreat I came accross a book which talked about the production of amrita, the nectar that flows down from the top of the head. It said that Amrita is produced at the bindu chakra, a chakra on the top back of the head half way between the crown and the occipital centre. It said that when the bindu is activated it produces amrita which flows down to the roof of the mouth, and from there down the throat to the vissudi (throat) chakra. Here it is purified and then it flows down to nourish the physical body."  

This matches the scientific findings of the scientists who examined Prahlad Jani, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm)  only difference is that he has a hole in the palate through which the amrita flows.

Anyway, you must have some very good karma if you are able to get so close to Amma.  You are a great inspiration to me and I hope to be able to follow in your steps someday!  Thanks for making this topic!

[Wolfgang]

quote:Originally posted by Chiron

Christi I have heard from a very reputable source that chocolate heavily pollutes the nadis and should be avoided at all costs!  (Says the hypocrite who just ate 4 pieces of a chocolate cake during a b-day party, but it was my first time in months though so maybe this will encourage you to avoid it!)

I am interested in that source, could you post it please ?
I love to eat chocolate and sweets ...

[Chiron]

I can't, I have to translate it first.

[Christi]

Hi Chiron,
 

quote:Christi I have heard from a very reputable source that chocolate heavily pollutes the nadis and should be avoided at all costs! (Says the hypocrite who just ate 4 pieces of a chocolate cake during a b-day party, but it was my first time in months though so maybe this will encourage you to avoid it!)

Thanks for that...
Chocolate obviously has a pretty strong effect on the body, in a similar way to coffee. It has the same "buzz" effect, and when I eat it I a can feel the whole nadi system vibrating very fast. Chocolate and coffee are both terrible when combined with spiritual practices as they create a condition in the nervous system which is the least conducive to deep meditation.

Actually I am starting to notice that anything with a high glycemic index also isn't very helpful (sugars and fast carbohydrates like pasta).
 

quote:This matches the scientific findings of the scientists who examined Prahlad Jani, (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm) only difference is that he has a hole in the palate through which the amrita flows.

Thanks for the link to the Prahlad Jani experiment. It is a very interesting case. I have once experienced the flow of amrita from the bindu chakra into my top palate, and it was incredible. Like a drop of nectar from heaven (I believe it is sometimes referred to as the nectar of the Gods).
I don't think you need an actual hole in your palate to experience it, but who knows? Prahlad Jani?

Christi

[sushman]

Hi Christi,
I am catching up on this thread pretty late.

Firstly, wishing you well on your experiment.

Few things:
(1) Sometimes, going out public about resolution actually may weaken the resolution (as you may try hard to keep it up)...to some level, our ego may let us down. So, doing it without much fanfare may help the cause. This is just my experience or thought. It need not be true in your case. You may be totally different.
(2) I am in no way suggesting that you are seeking attention by this thread. Its really valuable information and inspiration for blokes like me to think about trying something similar. I think the forum is a great way to seek support and help from fellow like-minded yogis. Sometimes, its a good outlet to share things in this forum which you can't do elsewhere (without being ridiculed).
(3) Not having a time limit is really a good thing. it worked in my case for my celibacy (4 - 5 months)...less stressful to keep it up if you are not operating within timeframes.
(3) Have you tried to live on uncooked food? it might be a good start (if you can sustain it).
(4) Also, pls share your fasting experiences. I would really appreciate it.
I have just started with monthly fasting (3 days) from last month. It felt real good. I started off with one day and extended it to three days...i could have gone more, but decided to stop it. Not having rigid goal on number of days did help, I think.

You are an inspiration to all of us in this forum.
So, pls keep it going and continue to share your thoughts and experiences.

Pls keep us posted on this experiement.

Cheers !!!

[Christi]

Hi Shushman,

 

quote:(3) Have you tried to live on uncooked food? it might be a good start (if you can sustain it).

Actually, I did try the “Raw food” diet. Loads of people recomended it to me, so I gave it a go. All that happened was that I felt sick most of the time. This isn’t surprising because when kundalini is highly active, it draws energy away from the digestive process. Raw foods are very hard to digest compared to cooked foods, even if you mash them into a pulp.

It was a couple of years ago that I tried that. I guess I'll know when I am seriously ready, when I can eat a raw food diet without feeling sick!

That would be a sign that energy was going back to my digestive process.

Thanks for the feedback.

Christi


p.s. It is possible that a mostly raw diet could be useful in the early stages of practice, before kundalini is awakened, as a mostly raw diet could help to purify the body as it is low in toxins. Some even say they awakened their kundalini through eating a raw diet.

[Scott]

Christi,

It could just be detoxing causing the nausea.

[Christi]

Hi Scott,

It could be, but during the time that I was Raw fooding it (not 100% I should add), I did two, 10 day juice fasts. During the juice fasts the nausia went. Juce fasts are more detoxifying on the body than a non 100% raw diet, so if it was a detox effect, then you would have expected the nausia to continue. If the nausia was caused by undigested food sitting in my stomach, then you would expect it to go away, which it did.
You see... I can be scientific when I want to be.

There is a book published by the Bihar school of Yoga, called something like Kundalini and Tantra, where the swami says the same thing, that Yogis should avoid raw food as it puts too much strain on the digestive system during the years of the awakening of kundalini.

Christi

[Nirodha]

From a scientific perspective the human body lost it's ability to live on a diet that consist of primarily raw vegetation efficiently thousands of years ago. This is because we no longer possess the enzymes required to breakdown tough raw vegetable matter effectively enough to draw the necessary calories and nutrients from it.

For hominids (i.e. great apes, which includes humans) that are still able to do this, one will notice that they generally have to consume upward of 60 pounds of a raw vegetation per day, in order to remain healthy and active.

I noticed that when I was vegan I had to eat just about every 2 hours in order to not feel lethargic. I eventually got tired of feeling hungry all the time, and switched back to an omnivorous diet, which eliminated the problem.

As for chocolate interfering with deep spiritual practices, I haven't noticed this in my own life, as I eat it all the time. And, I have no problem attaining Samadhi as a result. Coffee is another matter though, and I only drink decaffeinated so as to eliminate the psycho-stimulating effect this beverage would have otherwise.

Kind regards

[selfonlypath]

Hey,

I feel it is more clean and efficient to follow ascetic path which is one major path under shamanism. This has to do with different types of deprivation to enter in trance and purify nadis.

In the case of this thread, either you eat or you don't for a given time. Fasting can be highly dangerous but also an interesting ritual because after all, stopping to eat is the archetype of going into death zone which is about ego dissolution.

Albert

[Christi]

Hi Nirodha,
 

quote:From a scientific perspective the human body lost it's ability to live on a diet that consist of primarily raw vegetation efficiently thousands of years ago. This is because we no longer possess the enzymes required to breakdown tough raw vegetable matter effectively enough to draw the necessary calories and nutrients from it.

Well... there are a lot of people today living on a totally raw diet. They get around the problem you mention by either living only on raw fruits (which are much easier to digest, or they use a fair amount of electrical kitchen equipment to break up raw vegetables into a much easier to digest form.
 

quote:For hominids (i.e. great apes, which includes humans) that are still able to do this, one will notice that they generally have to consume upward of 60 pounds of a raw vegetation per day, in order to remain healthy and active.

The people I know who are 100% raw, eat a lot less than 60 pounds of raw vegetables a day!
 

quote:As for chocolate interfering with deep spiritual practices, I haven't noticed this in my own life, as I eat it all the time. And, I have no problem attaining Samadhi as a result.

You may find that as more purification happens in your body, you become increasingly sensitive to substances such as chocolate. A few years ago it hardly affected me at all.

Meditation, and samadhi will have a gentle purification effect on the body, but the process will take many many years with meditation alone. There are much more powerful ways to purify the body. The most powerful I believe, are pranayama and visualization techniques. Spinal breathing pranayama is a combination of both of these.

Christi

[Nirodha]

quote:Originally posted by Christi

quote:As for chocolate interfering with deep spiritual practices, I haven't noticed this in my own life, as I eat it all the time. And, I have no problem attaining Samadhi as a result.

You may find that as more purification happens in your body, you become increasingly sensitive to substances such as chocolate. A few years ago it hardly affected me at all.

Meditation, and samadhi will have a gentle purification effect on the body, but the process will take many many years with meditation alone. There are much more powerful ways to purify the body. The most powerful I believe, are pranayama and visualization techniques. Spinal breathing pranayama is a combination of both of these.

Christi

Hi Christi,

As for the raw fruitarians you know, this approach is actually quite different from raw veganism. And, I can see how they'd have no problems with it. Raw fruit is much easier to digest and obtain nutrients from than raw vegetable matter. I could present a lot of scientific evidence as to why this is so. However, I'm sure everyone is capable of Goggling it for themselves.

As for the raw vegans that you know, are they underweight and do the women still have menstrual cycles? Also, are they on a strict raw vegetable diet, with no fruit, diary or bee products to supplement it?

As for pranayama, spinal breathing pranayama and visualization being more effective purifiers than Samadhi (meditative absorption), I totally disagree with you. If those things work well for you and anyone else, great. However, I haven't found them to be necessary.

Since I've been abiding in Samadhi, at least twice a day for the last several years, I'm hardly ever sick now. And, if I do happen to get sick, with the flu for example, I can overcome it in about 3 days. My average flu recovery time prior to this was 2 weeks.

I've even been to totally alleviate all symptoms of the flu while in Samadhi - it was as if I wasn't ill to begin with. Granted, once I came out of Samadhi the flu reasserted itself full force. However, as I mentioned above, my recovery times are very rapid now.

In regards to substances: I've noticed that the effects of psycho-stimulants and depressants has been reduced since my frequent abiding in Samadhi. I've seen mention of other yogis reporting this also.

I can drink a fair amount of alcohol now and remain amazingly lucid. This isn't something I do often. However, I do enjoy a good party on  occasion. I can even be pretty drunk, sit down to meditate, and still attain Samadhi - during which time all the effects of the alcohol vanish.

I've also had a Kundalini Awakening as a result of my frequent abiding in Samadhi. And, Kundalini in and of itself is one of the most potent purifiers, both mentally and physically, known to humankind.

Regarding hyper-sensitivity to certain foods: Yes, I did experience a bit of that many years ago. However, those days seem to be long gone for me and I just eat whatever I like now. What I have noticed over the last several years though is that now if my body doesn't like something I've eaten, it will quickly develop explosive diarrhea or projectile vomiting (usually within 30 minutes) and expel the offender - causing me very little overall discomfort. Prior to this change in my biology, which I'll assume has been induced by Samadhi, I would have experienced digestive upset and discomfort for hours.

As you can see, I've no need to look elsewhere for a purifier, as the one I abide in currently has proven to be very effective.

Kind regards

[Christi]

Hi Nirodha
 

quote:As for the raw vegans that you know, are they underweight and do the women still have menstrual cycles? Also, are they on a strict raw vegetable diet, with no fruit, diary or bee products to supplement it?

Some are underweight and some are normal or overweight. Actually I asked one lady who had been on a 100% raw diet for a year, and was still pretty curvey, how she did it. She said her secret was bananas and avacados!
I don't usually ask women about their menstrual cycles without them bringing up the topic first. I am an English gentleman. They mostly eat anything raw, which would include most nuts, honey, some milk and cheese and all fruit.

 

quote:As for pranayama, spinal breathing pranayama and visualization being more effective purifiers than Samadhi (meditative absorption), I totally disagree with you. If those things work well for you and anyone else, great. However, I haven't found them to be necessary.

I am not sure what you totally disagree about. Is it the statement I made about these practices being more effective in terms of purification than samadhi is? Have you ever tried them?
Personally, when I added pranayama and visualization practices to my set of spiritual practices, I noticed that the rate of purification increased about 20 fold, compared to before when I was only using meditation.

When my most powerful purification practice was entering samadhi, I never had to limit the amount of time I spent doing spiritual practices. I could sit for hours every day (up to 12 hours a day at one point), without putting myself in danger. After adding pranayama and visualizations, I found that the purification process became so intense that some days I could do no more than one hour of practices a day (and some days none at all).


 

quote:As you can see, I've no need to look elsewhere for a purifier, as the one I abide in currently has proven to be very effective.

Yes, samadhi is effective (if a little slow), and there is no need for you to change your practices at all. If it works for you, then stick with it. But I do think it's a great idea if everyone has access to the knowledge about the effectiveness of spiritual practices. That means if something is more effective than something else, people should be alowed to know that.

Actually I think (from my own experience) the most effective purification practice is a combination of samadhi (or failing that, meditation), mantra yoga, pranayama, visualizations and higher tantric practices.

Christi

[Nirodha]

Hi Christi,

While I have some reservations about continuing this discussion, simply because I don't wish to get into a "mine is bigger, better and faster than yours" situation - which to me is the antitheses of spirituality - I'll briefly do so in the spirit of promoting some understanding between you and I.

quote:quote:
As for pranayama, spinal breathing pranayama and visualization being more effective purifiers than Samadhi (meditative absorption), I totally disagree with you. If those things work well for you and anyone else, great. However, I haven't found them to be necessary.

I am not sure what you totally disagree about. Is it the statement I made about these practices being more effective in terms of purification than samadhi is? Have you ever tried them?

Actually I think (from my own experience) the most effective purification practice is a combination of samadhi (or failing that, meditation), mantra yoga, pranayama, visualizations and higher tantric practices.

In regards to the above question: Yes, I've visited all of the various practices above at some point during my contemplative career. However, I found them all to be rather ineffective, compared to frequently abiding in Samadhi, which is why I abandoned them.

I've concluded, from my considerable studies, practice and experiences, that all spiritual strategies are designed, in one way or another, to promote meditative absorption (i.e. Samadhi). I firmly believe the reason for this is because during meditative absorption is when/where the true purification, transformation and Awakening of the individual actually occurs. And, my experience, and that of numerous others that I know, verifies this.

That being the case, why would I want to muck about, with the overcomplexity, mystification and intellectualism of "this and that" and "so forth and so on," when I can get right to the point? I realize that some people enjoy those pastimes, to distraction I might add, however, I'm not one of them.

quote:Yes, samadhi is effective (if a little slow), and there is no need for you to change your practices at all.

I don't find Samadhi to be "a little slow." Quite to the contrary actually, as I experienced rather profound results within 6 to 9 months of making it the primary focus of my practice. Much more profound than the results I got from my earlier years of various practices.

quote:But I do think it's a great idea if everyone has access to the knowledge about the effectiveness of spiritual practices. That means if something is more effective than something else, people should be allowed to know that.

Well, of course there needs to be open access for all, as the days of authoritarian "closed systems" desperately need to come to an end. And, I was never arguing otherwise, nor was I expounding a "one size fits all" strategy, when I was expressing my point of view. I was merely expressing it, nothing more and nothing less.

Kind regards

[VIL]

I guess I'm like Nirodha in the sense that I can eat whatever I want, since I never had to practice and experience came about naturally, but is it really about the food?  I don't know.  I mean, it's pretty admirable the self-discipline that Christi has and he has a really nice disposition and is naturally generous, like the love that Katrine exudes.

It's weird, since it's like some people have this natural innate bhakti that is just beautiful and others have this natural innate knowing without as much bhakti or something.  I was reading up on Jnana and I was wondering if there is something to that or why one has more than the other?

I've heard it said that eating the right foods has a very profound effect on the mind/body.  And I wonder if it would be a good thing for me to practice also.

Anyway, I learn from these posts and I wanted to thank you both for this discussion, since I really didn't know about all of the ins and outs of the raw diet as Nirodha mentioned also.  I have read that it is a really one of the healthiest things to do is to eat raw foods.  Maybe supplement with these raw foods as suggested?  

Namaste:



VIL