From Anandatandava

[JDas]

Nice words! And I mean that, but what exactly do they mean? In a nutshell? 25 words or less? I'm guessing this is the jist:

>I want to do more for people<

Love

Jon

quote:Originally posted by anandatandava

I'm still polishing the logistics of postings, so speak blindly. From what I'm told, though, I think people are being too kind. There is a problem in my nature which I must disclose, one that hampers communication. To explain; I am a rather extreme spiritual ecstatic, and my path is tipped heavily in that direction. I'ts understandable, where everything began in a profound near death vision of Shivas Dance of Bliss, (explaining the name Anandadantava). All I saw, all I felt... a story for another day, but I simply had to find my way back! And so I did, and do, inwardly and outwordy, with each plunge to Sambhavi. The dance flies into me and I into it and consensus reality has over time become only a diaphanous veil over a world of archetypal divine beauty, again both within and without. I use personal pronoun for convenience only, for I feel little sense of self-boundaries. This permeability bestows a marvelous benefit as I travel through my world, (as circumspect as it may be), so I am penetrated by everything, most of it now beautiful. Even the absorbing of others suffering has become a primary method, similar to Tibetan Tonglen. (Lord Shiva, give me the words to describe this). It seems I've lost track of my physical body and become an emergent property of the Dance, a collection of  swirling energies, an efflorescence of Love. Love made manifest. Love's eyes. Love's body. A psychiatrist might think much of this, but I've found that ecstasies should be judged not by their cause but by their fruit, which in my case are entirely wholesome (and toothsome).

Okay, you ask, so what's the problem? Well, Yogani has caused me to wonder if there is more I might reach for - like a more balanced practice. After all, I may objectively dance with God, but will always be a flawed mortal, needing improvement. Self-indulgent Pratyahara exerts a heavy toll but I want to do more for people, perhaps even engender a desire to leave prison, the only world, and now Ashram, I'm accustomed to. Opening a dialogue here is my first exploratory step. Also, I use neuroscience in my practice, and perhaps sharing that would help create and "active" life of sorts.

Talking Science is "safe" (if I stay on task), but any time I begin to write even transcendentally on spirituality, the Dance envelopes me and I am gone, the pen taking on a life of it's own. Ink, tears, words, phrases and sentiment flow and dance in from nowhere, as if gems flung from Shiva's whirling tresses It is a thickly resonant somatic and samadhic ecstasy, a timeless surfing of an orgasmic wave front. How is that to be resisted? Or bested? Only when it's grip is released do I look in astonishment at language that seems not mine. Then, out of concern for the reader's patience, I shovel words off the stage before the curtain opens, and you see what remains, (including any excess that escapes my editing, as some always does).

This explains why I speak in such a silly affected manner, and often well beyond my station. Please don't take offense at any of my impassioned ideas. I'm here to learn, and I apologize in advance for the inevitable faux pas.

I haven't really begun to describe the details of my ecstatic experiences (yikes). Is there a forum where I can let my hair down and perhaps burn these words out of my system?

Namaste

[anandatandava2]

I'm still polishing the logistics of postings, so speak blindly. From what I'm told, though, I think people are being too kind. There is a problem in my nature which I must disclose, one that hampers communication. To explain: I am a rather extreme spiritual ecstatic, and my path is tipped heavily in that direction. I'ts understandable, where everything began in a profound near death vision of Shivas Dance of Bliss, (explaining the name Anandadantava). All I saw, all I felt...a story for another day, but I simply had to find my way back! And so I did, and do, inwardly and outwardly, with each plunge to Sambhavi. The dance flies into me and I into it, and consensus reality has over time become only a diaphanous veil over a world of archetypal divine beauty, again, both within and without. I use personal pronoun for convenience only, for I feel little sense of self-boundaries. This permeability bestows a marvelous benefit as I travel through my world, (as circumspect as it may be), so I am penetrated by everything, most of it now beautiful. Even the absorbing of others suffering has become a primary method, similar to Tibetan Tonglen. (Lord Shiva, give me the words to describe this). It seems I've lost track of my material body and become an emergent property of the Dance, a collection of swirling energies, an efflorescence of Love. Love made manifest. Love's eyes. Love's body. A psychiatrist might think much of this, but I've found that ecstasies should be judged not by their cause but by their fruit, which in my case are entirely wholesome (and toothsome!)

Okay, you ask, so what's the problem? Well, Yogani has caused me to wonder if there is more I might reach for - like a more balanced practice. After all, I may objectively dance with God, but will always be a flawed mortal, needing improvement. Self-indulgent Pratyahara exerts a heavy toll but I want to do more for people, perhaps even engender a desire to leave prison, the only world, and now Ashram, I'm accustomed to. Opening a dialogue here is my first exploratory step. Also, I use neuroscience in my practice, and perhaps sharing that would help create and 'active' life of sorts.

Talking Science is 'safe', (if I stay on task), but any time I begin to write even transcendentally on spirituality, the Dance envelopes me and I am gone, the pen taking on a life of it's own. Ink, tears, words, phrases and sentiment flow and dance in from nowhere, as if gems flung from Shiva's whirling tresses. It is a  thickly resonant somatic and samadhic ecstasy, a timeless surfing of an orgasmic wave front. How is that to be resisted? Or bested? Only when it's grip is released do I look in astonishment at language that seems not mine. Then, out of concern for the reader's patience I shovel words off the stage before the curtain opens, and you see what remains, (including any excess that escapes my editing, as some always does).

This explains why I speak in such a silly affected manner, and often well beyond my station. Please don't take offense at any of my impassioned ideas. I'm here to learn, and I apologize in advance for the inevitable faux pas.

I haven't really begun to describe the details of my ecstatic experiences (yikes). Is there a forum where I can let my hair down and perhaps burn these excess words out of my system?

Namaste

[miguel]

quote:I haven't really begun to describe the details of my ecstatic experiences (yikes). Is there a forum where I can let my hair down and perhaps burn these excess words out of my system?

Hi Roy,i think you can do that in enlightenment milestones section,here in ayp forums.

[Katrine]

Hi Anandatandava

 <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Ink, tears, words, phrases and sentiment flow and dance in from nowhere, as if gems flung from Shiva's whirling tresses. It is a thickly resonant somatic and samadhic ecstasy, a timeless surfing of an orgasmic wave front. How is that to be resisted?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I am very grateful you didn't shovel this off stage before posting ...it is beautiful anandatandava[]

 <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">After all, I may objectively dance with God, but will always be a flawed mortal, needing improvement. Self-indulgent Pratyahara exerts a heavy toll but I want to do more for people, perhaps even engender a desire to leave prison, the only world, and now Ashram, I'm accustomed to. Opening a dialogue here is my first exploratory step. Also, I use neuroscience in my practice, and perhaps sharing that would help create and 'active' life of sorts.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Yes....the balance you speak of....it will come from engaging like that......an outward flow...of all the beautiful flowing that you are (object/subject as one)...... it will make such a difference to many.....yourself included...... in ways we cannot fathom.......

Thanks for all the courage....and by all means feel welcome to share more of your ecstatic experiences..... you can (like Miguel said) do that here:

http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?board=22

or here:

http://www.aypsite.com/plus-forum/index.php?board=27



 <blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">It seems I've lost track of my material body and become an emergent property of the Dance, a collection of swirling energies, an efflorescence of Love. Love made manifest. Love's eyes. Love's body. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Amen
****OM*****

[anandatandava2]

I'd like to explain why, from my first exposure to his writings I knew that Yogani was the consummate teacher I'd sought all my life. These are only the words of a passionate fool, so please don't be offended by any of my sentiments. It bothers me that I often speak without sufficient diplomacy, but I've never had anyone to discuss spiritual matters with before, and I'm fairly bursting with the desire to communicate. Hopefully the pressure will relieve soon, but until then a clown is running my circus, so enjoy the show! (now where is that tranquilizer dart...?) Oh, know from the outset that I believe all loving paths lead to the mountaintop, not just my idiosyncratic twisty-trail. Ready? Here we go:

-Because most people assume that impenetrable arguments made by self-imposed 'experts' simply must contain profound truths, they defer to these experts to tell them what to believe. Thus, inferior teachers will intentionally obfuscate what little they know through complexity and obscurity. (See? Just like that! ). To those willing to be mindlessly led, they offer only 'castles in the air', words and concepts chasing their own tails and leading nowhere. Superior teachers, knowing that real Truth rings like a temple bell in the body, mind and soul, can speak in clear, simple terms. Their Truth becomes experiential, bringing, demanding belief by its own resonant power and accord, an interpenetrant divine loving Force. Of what purpose are words when the mind is stunned into awed silence? Yogani's words are as beautiful as poetry, and he could embellish them endlessly. But poetry is not anyone's direct mission here. So, Yogani keeps his lessons free of extraneous fluff, delivering only unalloyed Truth. He has combed the wisdom of the ages, and separated the wheat from the chaff by testing the efficacy of methods on his own highly evolved mind and body. Having condensed Truth down to its most effective and efficient essence, his teachings make the full 8 limbs of yoga a practical and swift path to enlightenment for householder and renunciate alike. Philosophers blindly draw maps. Yogani actually brings us there. Philosophers guess as to what lies there. Yogani teaches us to taste it.

-Inferior teachers establish definitions of enlightenment that are impossible for humans to achieve. Anyone who expects complete and permanent perfection out of themselves or their teachers is bound for perpetual disappointment. (This is hazardous ground, I know.) In my view, superior teachers promote, (to use the AA slogan), 'progress not perfection' and 'enlightened behavior over enlightenment'. Why seek to float in some heaven-realm when we should be walking solidly upon the earth, helping to reduce suffering in our fellow beings? Well, I'd long thought that this was the choice of goals a person simply had to make. Then came Yogani to show me that I could have my cake and eat it too. He teaches that enlightenment is a balanced union between pure bliss consciousness and ecstatic conductivity, that from this union all other good things flow. Knowing the extent of my own imperfections, it's clear I'll always be a work-in-progress, but I already have enough of the Path's blessings to know that by following Yogani's teachings, enlightenment is well withing the reach of others, and is where hands-on good works are not only possible but advised as part of the AYP practice. Yes! It's okay to walk on water if you buoy others up with you! Or, to once again paraphrase AA, 'We keep what we have by giving it away'. This is all so beautifully rational, cohesive and perfect! Best of all, it comes to vibrant life in the practices; a heaven on earth.

As for the transformative power of the Path, my own life is a dramatic example, for I was once one of the most unmanageable inmates in the prison system. That is a story for another day, but suffice for now that when I hear about siddhis, these words come to mind: 'Speak to me not of miracles, for I have seen bad men turned good and that is enough miracle for me'. Yes, I'm a gratefully recovering idiot, and have been struck free from prisons far worse that those of concrete and steel - prisons of the mind! (Besides, why seek to siddhi-bend the laws of physics when it is really the inner self that needs transformation?)

-Inferior teachers foster complete dependence within their students. In these unfortunates I have many times seen that the loss of their physical guru means the complete loss of their path. Superior teachers foster independence within their students by building confidence in their inner guru - self-confidence! Yogani ends each lesson with the adjunct, 'The guru is within you', thus directing his words to the proper inner student.

-Inferior teachers build cults of personality, working to elevate themselves to the status of avatar or perfected being, (despite displaying feet of clay to anyone with the willingness to see). They look to their personal ends rather that their traditions and community, Superior teachers, well, it is Yogani's humility and humanity that I most love. He says, in effect, 'Look, I am one of you. One with you, so don't mistake me for your goal. I live in ecstatic bliss as a human being, and so can you. These lessons and (omnipresent) electronic ashram are merely the raft with which you cross the stream by your own paddling, the finger pointing at the moon that you must look up to see, the ladder rungs you must climb, the steps you must take, for the guru is in you.

All this said, I worship Yogani by my own choice and accord, for if feeds my bhakti. My life experience, past and present, make it difficult to trust authority. I have previously bowed to no man, and remained unbent through years of the most severe 'corrective' punishment, all of which only further stiffened my resistance with the scar tissue of hate. Then, from the Path, came love, a melting love that softened and dissolved me into a puddle of grateful tears at Yogani's feet. His voice carries a singular resonance for being surrounded by what is, to me, a world otherwise silent of useful meaning. He is, for me, the sun that eclipses all lessor lights, and I seek only to serve him and reflect his radiance to the limits of my tarnished and dim way.

All the silly opinions I've expressed here remind me of the adage, 'All is One, but make the first division and the suffering begins'. In this case it'll be when I cringe with embarrassment over something stupid I've said. Yet again! LOL

Namaste

[miguel]

Wonderful post Roy.I love it.Thanks for sharing.
You have much to say in this forums.
You are a big big hearth of fire.
C´mon friend,lets go,lets fly together to the infinitum.
Continue sharing with us,teaching us... please...
Om

[anandatandava2]

Wait! It bears pointing out that if anything interesting comes out of me, (the proverbial chimp at the typewriter), it is none to my credit. It is simply not mine. I am entirely derivative, an echo. Within me flows a broad floodplain of spirituality, fed by a thousand rivulets of mystical teaching. Each of these spill out their unique but complimentary load of gems, which then lie as anonymous as fossils in my subconscious.

I invite others to determine the source of these alluvial deposits, for it is beyond the capacity of this brain-damaged dolt. To me they appear channel-bound from the rushing streams of much loftier minds. I cannot separate blended waters or distinguish 'one' from 'One'. So, please, see through my smudged lens the veins of pure Truth that lie in yonder sacred mountain peaks. Look to Yogani! (And through him to your inner experience).

I can only wallow deliriously in this holy mud, and struggle to communicate the ineffable. But look! Lotus grow here too, their feet rooted in the very same mud. And witness what beauty emerges, unblemished into the sunlight above. I move my hand among their stalks, and sweet laughter filters down. It reminds me of my true Self, a transient cloud of particles, a temporary knot of energy in the space-time continuum, an animated bag of seawater, all part of the Whole. With my small 'self' out of the way, Truth emerges. Kundalini erupts. The universe cracks open.  Annihilation. Ah, Shiva, you have a sense of humor...

[miguel]

quote:Each of these spill out their unique but complimentary load of gems, which then lie as anonymous as fossils in my subconscious.

[anandatandava2]

Ah yes, what doall my silly words mean...

The madman, poet, and mystic may all plumb the same Oceanic depths, but there the similarity ends. The madman is shredded among the corals of irrationality and drowns in silent screams. The poet returns words pearlescent with the unexpected, he is an amphibrous creature and maintains a breathing tube to the surface. The mystic dissolves and can only chuckle indistinctly along the shoreline of familiarity.

!Chuckle!

Let us forget words and listen to the surf together...

This sweet voice of eternity, all art That.

Namaste

[anandatandava2]

The dog barks, the Caravan passes.
-Arabic proverb

I may give voice to love, but Yogani is the Caravan. Follow in his Train.

Since I speak of it so often, inmates frequently, (but privately), ask me what love is and how it might be pursued. Many are hungry for such succor, but its source and nature are mysterious to men who experienced only brutality or deprivation of nurturing in childhood. My own understanding coming in explosive rapture, I originally felt ill-equipped to advise these men. What is love? Ask a fish to explain the water through which it swims. Where does it begin? Where does it end? All the fish knows is that it stirs warmly with his every movement, and impels certain things around him. Viewed this way, it seems love cannot be pursued or grasped directly, but is instead a by-product of our interaction with other things: sentient beings, places,, objects and other sources of aesthetic, spiritual or hedonistic pleasure, The nature of impermanence being what it is, external targets of affection are hazardous as a sole anchor point for love, but they are the only option known to most people.

But lo! Yogani turns this equation on its head. Through his teachings, love as a pure ideal can indeed be pursued and grasped directly, in one's own heart and mind! And this is a love beyond all previous reckoning; it is supreme bhakti, infinitely spacious, without boundaries or qualifications or demands or expectations. This is 'melting love' for it feels, (in truth!), as though one is being melted deliciously down by a divine Flame. It is thickly, penetratingly warm, like luxuriating on a summertime beach. Ahh... Yes, and regardless of one's beliefs, it gives every impression of coming from a powerful, self-existent, external loving Source. For all intents and purposes, you are basking in God's own radiance!

Once firmly ensconced within, this love is effortlessly and eagerlyredirected outward into the world, where it becomes ripened and burnished yet further. For good reason the Catholic mystics called it Incendium Amoris, (the 'fire of love'). It is the Tibetan tumo I savor during tonglen, and is to be found in love-centric traditions of all times and climes.

This is a love you will drag around with you day and night like a child with a favorite new toy. And I swear you do not have to believe in God or the supernatural to become like unto that child and enter the gates of AYP heaven! *laugh* Oh yes, stay tuned atheists and agnostics, for you do not have to compartmentalize, Balkanize or otherwise struggle to reconcile your temporal and spiritual activities on the AYP path, for the blessings come to all. Be cautioned, however, that a slippery slope of divine seduction may develop under your feet, for any tincture of the sacred, (including love), that seeps into the sanctum of your being is immediately and powerfully rewarded. Complete resistance just might be futile, but even struggling with the hook is fun as you feel that mysteriously powerful pull on the line. Whatever its ultimate source, spirituality is built into your brain, my friend, so start moving in harmony with that birthright now.

Pride yourself on your objective mind? That can remain, but in increasingly humbled form, for the 'subjective' world of your practices will magically expand to become the backdrop of a happier and more complete life. Yes, by containing only the essentials of philosophy, AYP is actually the premier 'thinking person's' path, for there is little to collide with your current, (and no doubt dearly held), abstractions while the practices work this subtle magic on you. For the same reasons, AYP is able to encompass the whole of cutting edge science without compromising principles. For example, since 'melting love' is discussed here, consider that the subjective experience of both love and warmth are heavily mediated by the same brain region - the insular cortex - which becomes more robust, (thicker and denser), as you continue the practices. These combined sensations reinforce romantic pair-bonding, (erotic energy), and thus spiritual energy, (kundalini)! Similarly, increased robustness in the brain's 'happiness center' - the left prefrontal cortex - has long been recognized as a physically demonstrable outcome of meditation, (pure bliss consciousness anyone?. And consider that spinal breathing remaps the somatosensory cortex, thus eroticizing the body in the direction the root energy is 'pulled', (working via motor imagery, bi-modal sensory-motor neurons, neuroplasticity, ANS manipulation, etc). And then there's the many cranial nerve pairs that map directly to primary AYP bandhas, mudras and pranayama, providing direct access to the body's most rapturous love-making mechanism. These are but a few examples. Granted, I'm a science nut and love working under the hood, but it should give everyone greater confidence to know that your body's physical heritage is there to support your spiritual evolution. These mechanisms are in each and every one of us. What a gift, what a blessing, what grace has been bestowed! Let us live our destiny. Yogani's teachings lay out the path. His 'spiritual science' is aptly named indeed in so many incredible ways.

And it all comes back around to Love!

[Akasha]

thankyou ,anandatava ,for sharing more on the 'neuro-spiritual' science behind all of this.

had acquired an interest in all of this before arriving at ayp so i naturaly find this fascinating. partly why yogani's lessons communicated tangible & real truths to me that resonated well on first reading them. i had learnt a little about the sensory-motor cortex ( from a discipline called  'hanna somatics' though ayp goes to a completely different level addressing the whole being which i knew h.s. lacked) which is actually two strips located around the top of the head( the crown region)laterally,ear -to ear v.roughly speaking,one in front of the other, sensory & motor ,but to be honest i had little idea about the other brain regions  and how their activities related as a functionong whole. there was no mention of emotional states or other autonmic functions and other areas  of conscious experience.'hanna somatics' is just related to muscles and the sensory-motor cortex and is a biodfeedback neuro-muscular movement therapy.(i studied it for about a year before arriving here)

 i am geting the impression that that just as there is mind/body there is also physical nerves and subtle nerves, one co-dependent on the other or rather feeding through,a similar analogy.

i was immediately aware that ayp dove quickly and deeply into the 2nd & 3rd koshas,pranamayakosha,manmayakosha and beyond all the way to the inner silence of the bliss sheath.

if we are all wired for this ,for attaining these higher states of consciousness then doing so should (or could) just  be  a matter of waking ourselves up through using some of the levers and tools found here. in principple at least i can't see how anyone who is hungry enough  and inclined to do so  should'nt be able to enlighten their whole being with ecstatic bliss if they do what yogani suggests here.and they can return with Q's here if they run innto problems.

as my confidence in ayp grows, it almost seems too easy,as the tools are so powerful and efficacious especially when used in combination. i know it takes times but still if you water the plant and nourish the soil a little each day,week,year...... no hold on...i can't envisage that far ahead.

but it's all here waiting to be devoured- the whole gourmet buffet.....i'm too busy playing with my fingers and licking the spoon right now.

it is encouraging, looking at my progress so far....as this system addresses ,holistically,  all the layers of man/woman.It's compass and scope is broad, the tools are so simple yet effective and powerful and there is no tinsel or confetti - liable to distract one either in it's prsentation-  yogani does not beat around the bush and straight way goes right to the heart of what you can do(methods) do to awaken spiritually  ( and/or transform also) A no-nonsesne approach neither clowthoed in outdated  religious  stuff or dogma etc.  i  might have started off woofing at the start wih my deep meditation but  this dog/pup will join that caravan of yogani's cos he has had enough of woofing all day long

Love

[Lili]

quote:Originally posted by anandatandava

I'd like to explain why, from my first exposure to his writings I knew that Yogani was the consummate teacher I'd sought all my life. These are only the words of a passionate fool, so please don't be offended by any of my sentiments. It bothers me that I often speak without sufficient diplomacy, but I've never had anyone to discuss spiritual matters with before, and I'm fairly bursting with the desire to communicate. Hopefully the pressure will relieve soon, but until then a clown is running my circus, so enjoy the show! (now where is that tranquilizer dart...?) Oh, know from the outset that I believe all loving paths lead to the mountaintop, not just my idiosyncratic twisty-trail. Ready? Here we go:

-Because most people assume that impenetrable arguments made by self-imposed 'experts' simply must contain profound truths, they defer to these experts to tell them what to believe. Thus, inferior teachers will intentionally obfuscate what little they know through complexity and obscurity. (See? Just like that! ). To those willing to be mindlessly led, they offer only 'castles in the air', words and concepts chasing their own tails and leading nowhere. Superior teachers, knowing that real Truth rings like a temple bell in the body, mind and soul, can speak in clear, simple terms. Their Truth becomes experiential, bringing, demanding belief by its own resonant power and accord, an interpenetrant divine loving Force. Of what purpose are words when the mind is stunned into awed silence? Yogani's words are as beautiful as poetry, and he could embellish them endlessly. But poetry is not anyone's direct mission here. So, Yogani keeps his lessons free of extraneous fluff, delivering only unalloyed Truth. He has combed the wisdom of the ages, and separated the wheat from the chaff by testing the efficacy of methods on his own highly evolved mind and body. Having condensed Truth down to its most effective and efficient essence, his teachings make the full 8 limbs of yoga a practical and swift path to enlightenment for householder and renunciate alike. Philosophers blindly draw maps. Yogani actually brings us there. Philosophers guess as to what lies there. Yogani teaches us to taste it.

-Inferior teachers establish definitions of enlightenment that are impossible for humans to achieve. Anyone who expects complete and permanent perfection out of themselves or their teachers is bound for perpetual disappointment. (This is hazardous ground, I know.) In my view, superior teachers promote, (to use the AA slogan), 'progress not perfection' and 'enlightened behavior over enlightenment'. Why seek to float in some heaven-realm when we should be walking solidly upon the earth, helping to reduce suffering in our fellow beings? Well, I'd long thought that this was the choice of goals a person simply had to make. Then came Yogani to show me that I could have my cake and eat it too. He teaches that enlightenment is a balanced union between pure bliss consciousness and ecstatic conductivity, that from this union all other good things flow. Knowing the extent of my own imperfections, it's clear I'll always be a work-in-progress, but I already have enough of the Path's blessings to know that by following Yogani's teachings, enlightenment is well withing the reach of others, and is where hands-on good works are not only possible but advised as part of the AYP practice. Yes! It's okay to walk on water if you buoy others up with you! Or, to once again paraphrase AA, 'We keep what we have by giving it away'. This is all so beautifully rational, cohesive and perfect! Best of all, it comes to vibrant life in the practices; a heaven on earth.

As for the transformative power of the Path, my own life is a dramatic example, for I was once one of the most unmanageable inmates in the prison system. That is a story for another day, but suffice for now that when I hear about siddhis, these words come to mind: 'Speak to me not of miracles, for I have seen bad men turned good and that is enough miracle for me'. Yes, I'm a gratefully recovering idiot, and have been struck free from prisons far worse that those of concrete and steel - prisons of the mind! (Besides, why seek to siddhi-bend the laws of physics when it is really the inner self that needs transformation?)

-Inferior teachers foster complete dependence within their students. In these unfortunates I have many times seen that the loss of their physical guru means the complete loss of their path. Superior teachers foster independence within their students by building confidence in their inner guru - self-confidence! Yogani ends each lesson with the adjunct, 'The guru is within you', thus directing his words to the proper inner student.

-Inferior teachers build cults of personality, working to elevate themselves to the status of avatar or perfected being, (despite displaying feet of clay to anyone with the willingness to see). They look to their personal ends rather that their traditions and community, Superior teachers, well, it is Yogani's humility and humanity that I most love. He says, in effect, 'Look, I am one of you. One with you, so don't mistake me for your goal. I live in ecstatic bliss as a human being, and so can you. These lessons and (omnipresent) electronic ashram are merely the raft with which you cross the stream by your own paddling, the finger pointing at the moon that you must look up to see, the ladder rungs you must climb, the steps you must take, for the guru is in you.

All this said, I worship Yogani by my own choice and accord, for if feeds my bhakti. My life experience, past and present, make it difficult to trust authority. I have previously bowed to no man, and remained unbent through years of the most severe 'corrective' punishment, all of which only further stiffened my resistance with the scar tissue of hate. Then, from the Path, came love, a melting love that softened and dissolved me into a puddle of grateful tears at Yogani's feet. His voice carries a singular resonance for being surrounded by what is, to me, a world otherwise silent of useful meaning. He is, for me, the sun that eclipses all lessor lights, and I seek only to serve him and reflect his radiance to the limits of my tarnished and dim way.
Namaste

Wow--this is the best description of Yogani I've ever seen--detailing the individual key distinguishers of Yogani that differentiate him from 'everything else up to now' that is available on the yoga and spiritual development front.

Anandatandava--can you post them on the Amazon and other sites in the pages for comments on Yogani's books???

I think with your writing skills specific book reviews would be of great help but even pasting what you wrote here will be an asset!

And yes it makes sense for someone like you to want to get out of jail!
Lili

[Steve]

Thank you Anandatandava for being here. Your presence is love and touches the heart deeply. I am inspired by that which you are and what you share. It goes to the core and is a blessing to us all. So much love for you dear brother.

Love and Light,
Steve

[anandatandava2]

“When a man practices charity in order to be reborn in heaven, or for fame, or reward, or from fear, such charity can obtain no pure effect.”

-The Sutras

Perhaps more from a sense of unworthiness than spiritual virtue, (of which I claim none), I do not seek any final liberation, siddhis, rebirth, or any other completed goal. Happily, from the best ideals flow rewards easily rich enough for this grateful untouchable.

I seek only to give myself away in love, and, at journeys end, dissolve smiling with that sweet sentiment like a gingerbread man left out in the rain. I seek only to, (henceforth), make a positive difference in this world, in this life, and hope to make some decrease in a karmic debt surpassing Milarepa’s stones before time grinds this mortal shell down and wafts it back to stardust.

But wait! All has already become cavorting stardust, intertwined waveform, boundless. I am One with the finch’s dipping flight, the flower’s incandescence, the tree’s gentle breath, the stone’s slow transformation. All is, at bottom, one and the same universal energy, here and there fleetingly frozen into matter and process. The impossibly fine-tuned nature of the universe also draws me to view all phenomena as an expression of the same intelligence, an overarching Mysterium Tremendum that lies as a numinous backdrop to all I perceive.

Look here! Out of the darkness has emerged a world of gem-like beauty. The sky has become a glorious canvas and I am staggered by God’s choice of brushstrokes, all of which cut achingly across my heart. The yard, now plush pastoral, gleams like a faceted emerald. The trees have become carefully crafted bonsai; their boughs shed rain with the sound of wind chimes. A sparrow scratches in the gravel, and I lose myself in his fiercely compressed life. I am vertigos inside the swallow’s aerial loop, the seagull’s ballet. A sudden cry snaps me viscerally into a flight of geese where each wing-beat thrums deep in my chest. Friends I encounter spill joyful salutations in my path, and strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet. (How true it is that what we radiate outward becomes reflected back.) A bee kisses my welcoming lips then flies off in triumphant new love as witnesses sit aghast. *laugh* Indeed, I exchange civilities with all the universe, down to the tiniest minutia, for the same jugular of existence runs through us all.

Everything has become rain-shower fresh, and retains its sheen regardless of how long I gape and savor. My monochrome, monotonous world has been transformed into one of paradisiacal splendor. At every turn in my travels a new miracle seems to thrust itself suddenly forward, quivering with fevered urgency that I attend to exclusively its unique, ephemeral glory - here now! (Such self will, such charisma!).  These spellbinding epiphanies string together like lustrous mala beads to add incomparable delight to my days. No longer am I blinded by life’s jaded repetition – the scales of time have fallen from my eyes, leaving a child’s fresh and thirsty gaze. I see that I am indeed That! And That! And That!

This is life of an entirely new order, an absurdly heightened aesthetic. Couched in Western philosophical terms, I’ve emerged from Plato’s cave to behold Essential Forms in the mind of God. Here in broad daylight gambol Jung’s archetypes, glowing as from an inner source. What is this strange light that befuddles vision yet sharpens perception? Can one discard the eyes and see with the heart? Yes, of course, for it is the Fire of Love, love for All-That-Is. Huxley’s ‘reducing valve’ has been thrown wide, and all creation crushes through me. My hair pinned breathlessly back, I stand bedazzled and intoxicated, the boy with kaleidoscope eyes!

*laugh* Sorry for the excess… Tis a portion of the external affect and aspect of my Practice.

[vijikr]

Hearty warm Welcome Roy! I really like your choice of name "Anadathandava".Your writing shows your heart which is pure,love,bliss. God bless! You have shown your heart in writing which overflowing with love and not everyone could express in words as you do.I just enjoyed reading your meaningful writings here and I did feel woow while reading thanks for sharing your experiences.We all look forward more of the same from you.

Love and Light
Viji