Yoga Meditation
Yoga means ‘Union’ and my understanding of that union is related to following sentence, it is one of the most fundamental principles of life –
यथा पिण्डे तथा ब्रह्माण्डे।
It means – ‘As above so below’ and in other words, it means that the external world, including the entire cosmos, exists within us. These words are beyond the living experiences of many people, including myself, and even out of the scope of modern science, which is essentially based on physical experiments & evidence, but something within us also knows it very clearly, that it is the truth of life. To put it in very simple, relevant & practical words, and in spiritual sense, it means that the outside world is a reflection of the inner-self.
RAVIYOG, yog-sadhana, is an effort to experience our own inner-self, and to experience that it is making & shaping our outside world, the external life situations & living conditions. How we sit and stand? How we eat, what we eat? How we think & feel? How we act or react in life? It is the consciousness, higher level of awareness & alertness, but in the most effortless ways. It is the feeling of being settled within, when there is no inner-disturbance that is forceful or compulsive enough to make-us to get-up and go, it is simply the feeling of nothingness and emptiness within.
My yog-sadhana started when I realized that everything is alive, the stones and mountains see me, as I am trying to see deeper into the nature. The rocks are beating with vibrations, including the stars & planets, that may be referred to as celestial rocks, but they are working within my-self. I try to listen to the Sun-Moon, and the sky in my loneliness, and I learned to hear the-sound of silence and stillness. The science of yoga and astrology are not different, it may not work to accept one and deny the other.
YOG-SADHANA of THE SUN
The Sun is the source of life-energy and its energy changes at certain interval of hours during the day. According to RAVIYOG – a day means the time-duration from Sunrise to the next day Sunrise. The energy of the Sun is different during the time-period before & after Sunrise, at Noon, before & after Sunset and at mid-night. The energy of the Sun from the ‘Brahma-muhurta,’ i.e., approximately 3-4 am up to the Sunrise is one of the best time-period suitable to connect with the energy of the Sun & Mother Nature. It is also the best time to practice yoga-meditation, for the studies or to learn-practice all kinds of activities for self-growth & development.
The energy of the Sun is fresh & new every day before Sunrise – every water-body like a well or pond-lake has fresh-clean water on surface during this time-period and even the ocean water is more-clean during the early morning but soon after Sunrise there is some kind of energy change-churning effect – water gets muddy and mixed up with different kind of ‘things or energies.’ The water and the energy of other elements within us are also naturally clean & pure before Sunrise and we can realize it very clearly by connecting with the energy of the Sun.
A certain cleansing happens in the whole system of Earth & Environment everyday which starts somewhere during the Brahma-muhurta time, 3-4 AM, up to the Sunrise. We can use this time-period to become pure and free from negative or impure energies & emotions.
After Sunrise, our body, thoughts, emotions, and the whole life-energy, including the energy in the environment begins to take a certain form-structure and then it may not be suitable or flexible for any kind of change or moulding. The branch which is fresh & green can be easily moulded but once it is brown & dry then it will break easily. We need to learn to be – balanced, resourceful, flexible so that the flow of life, circulation of energy happens smoothly in our body, mind, and our lives. If we learn to create the positive and right kind of space-structure in the mind-frame using our life-energy then we can learn to achieve our goals-ambitions in life positively.
There is a certain energy build-up within us every day which needs to find to be used-channelled properly, i.e., it needs to be expressed & released. Suppose there was nothing to do for a few days then we would find out something to do, any activity to be engaged with because the life-energy within ourself would not rest and it will not allow us to rest. It is not possible to remain absolutely idle like a dead body. When our energy is not channelled properly then it may find its expression through compulsions of body & mind – we may show impulsive behaviour, uncontrolled instincts, and unconscious reaction to the different situations of life. Now, if we would do something every day to consume that energy without doing any meaningful work-activity over a period of-time, then we would feel unsatisfied or unfulfilled because the time & life-energy is wasted.
Our thoughts & emotions find a way to release through the expressions or the compulsions of the physical body, i.e., our body & mind will behave – act or react – according to the feelings, thoughts & emotions. It will show or reflect through the physical-mental health. It will reflect in our attitude, body-language, in our words, including the very tone and the speech.
So, the basic principle is yoga is that if we learn-practice certain postures known as yog-asanas which help us to become totally relaxed then our body & mind will respond positively. We will learn some very simple to advanced yoga-postures or exercises.
1. Breathing is the key to relaxation – whenever we are feeling any stress or anxiety then the best way to maintain resourceful state of body & mind is to keep proper-stable breathing. The better awareness of our breath can help us to improve our physical & psychological health and overall living conditions.
- To have the self-awareness – we need to pay attention to life energy or the breath. This is the main part of any yoga-meditation practice.
- To pay attention to life-energy breath and maintain the focus – we need to have stillness of thoughts and emotions or simply the stillness of body & mind.
Yoga means – we do not allow the compulsions of body & mind to attack our breathing and cause instability-imbalances in our physical-psychological system. We will learn some breathing exercises and learn to pay attention to our breath consciously but effortlessly.
The Name of YOGA & RAVIYOG
RAVIYOG – The original-fundamental-traditional principles & practices of yog-sadhana will remain the same. RAVIYOG in terms of yoga can be described in very simple words as follows –
- Switch off your mind and learn to listen to your body & breath – breathing & balance will not happen as-long-as the mind will interfere with the body or breath.
- Chanting or repeating sacred mantra or sound to connect with the Mother Nature, i.e., if I learn & practice to speak to the trees, sky, ocean, earth, and fire then they will respond in the same way. It is possible to connect with the Mother Nature with the right sound or beej mantra.
- The Sun has different energy at different times during the day from sunrise to the next day and the best time to connect with the energy of the Sun is before sunrise to enhance-upgrade our own energy. We must learn these different aspects of the energy & movement of the Sun and to correct & adjust our own lifestyle accordingly.
- RAVIYOG Kriya & Meditation – it is a way to channel & focus our life-energy in one direction because the energy & emotions need an expression
The following points are related to beginning or initiation of my yog-sadhana – I do not know how it all happened but this is how it all started and this is exactly what I followed –
1. The Sound & Mantra – Chanting
• शब्द – विषय, is related to – आकाश – तत्त्व
• Shiv – Shambho and the Sound & Soundless
In the process of creation, everything is created through the 5 elements, and may be everything happened with a sound, so everything has a vibration & reverberation.
• Beej mantra – the basic sound
Maybe I can create anything with the right sound, i.e., my life-energy will find the right expression through the right kind of sound, i.e., to connect with the ‘root-sound’ and therefore it is not important to know the meaning of the mantra, if I can just learn, practice and connect with – the right kind of sound.
So, chanting the sound or mantra repeatedly over a period of-time may be very useful, it may become a part of my life-energy, and maybe when it happens, then just by chanting the sound or mantra, it can be very helpful to maintain the focus my life-energy.
A very simple way to look at the same thing can be like affirmations may turn into a reality and if it is said with strong-intense emotions then the possibility of that happening becomes more.
• An important point to remember that about being empty, I cannot practice spirituality if I am ‘full of myself’ because if good sound has-to happen, then the thing should be empty like a flute. The process may change my life, it may transform my body, mind & life-energy including the living conditions of my life, because every sound has a reverberation which is related to certain shape-structure, i.e., it will manifest into something.
2. Panch-Bhuta or the 5 Elements
- Water – has memory. In our body, the water element is maximum – 72%, Earth – 12%, Air – 6%, Fire – 4% and the – REST is Akash.
So, the karmic memory, the memory of ancestors, including the pitra-dosha are all present in our body – in the water element. In the same way, everything is present within oneself – in the 5 elements which make up our body & mind. Therefore, it is very important to learn about – Panch-Bhuta, i.e., 5 elements and the nature of life as it is created through these 5 elements. Sadhguru has explained that essentially every spiritual process is all about cleansing the 5 elements – so the contamination-disproportion is eliminated. I have learned the – Bhuta-Shuddhi process during the Isha Hatha yoga program and following it every day since Jun 2022.
I always knew that something which has no-reason and explanation is creating big problems in my personal-professional life. Initially, I tried to deny it, tried to convince myself logically but nothing worked until I tried to learn & understand my life with the spiritual perception. The forefathers are present within me – mainly in the water element and I must make it pure to get rid of pitra-dosha which is creating problems in my life.
Pitra-dosha – Problem of the ‘Origin’ – The ancient story of King Bhagirathi who did Tapasya for a long time to get the blessings of Shiva for the liberation of his ancestors and to bring Maa-Ganga to Earth. The water is pure as-long-as it is flowing but the moment it gets stagnant – it is not good; so, the water element is also related to the flow of life. The source origin of water has strong energy to purify the water element and for the cleansing of Karmic memory. There are other places-ways to purify the energy of water and other elements within us but it is important to learn how to handle the energy of water even in our daily life and at home.
Therefore, I started going on many pilgrimages continuously for 3 years from 2017 to 2019, I went to those places where I could find a water-body, big or small, including the places where there is a river- origin or source to do the yog-sadhana. It was very clear that if I want to find my freedom or liberation then I have to-pray for the liberation of my ancestors because I could see the very clear pattern of the family-problems & disputes. With this idea or understanding, I started pilgrimage because the forefathers lived within me and their energies were expressed in my life through my actions-Karma and I had to find a way to stop it. I wanted to be pure like the elements and to start a new life. In many ways, a lot of things changed after the month of imprisonment in March 2019 and there was a feeling of freedom from the imprisonment of parents-family relationships and the home prison.