Meditation lessons (T. T. Swami Rama teachings booklet)

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Vesko
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Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 5:13 pm

Meditation lessons (T. T. Swami Rama teachings booklet)

Post: # 5933Post Vesko »

I am exceedingly happy that I have found this. I think that it will help a lot of people understand and practice authentic meditation and yoga:

Swami Rama Teachings booklet: "Understanding and Practicing the Teachings of Swami Rama of the Himalayas"

Download it (document file name swamiramateachings.pdf) from http://www.swamij.com/downloads.htm, where you can also find other valuable materials. The same holds for the rest of the website, which is about the so-called Himalayan tradition. (See below if the link is broken.)
In 1995 Swami Rama said that he wanted an ongoing, year-round Residential Program to be developed at his ashram in Rishikesh, India. Over the ensuing months a program was developed, which drew primarily upon five books he had written:
  • * The Art of Joyful Living
    * Meditation and Its Practice
    * Path of Fire and Light, Volume 2
    * Choosing a Path
    * Enlightenment Without God (Mandukya Upanishad)
The program included four daily meditations and daily practical training, and was designed to rotate though the lessons on the books on a 30-day cycle.
[...]
This guide has been developed to help aspirants in understanding and practicing meditation as taught by the Himalayan masters through Swami Rama. Though you should find it comprehensive, it is not a replacement for thoroughly studying the original texts, nor is it a substitute for direct training.

You should find this guide helpful to you, whether as a self-study aid or as a tool for explaining concepts and practices to others. It should be useful in one-to-one training, facilitated or informal study groups, in classrooms, or to enhance talks or lectures.
[...]
Most importantly, as Swami Rama has often said to students of meditation, you need to "practice, ... practice, ... practice."
A copy of these yogic materials resides on this website, just in case, but please check the former site first through the abovementioned link, as it is the source of the information and will be always up-to-date. If the link is broken, visit http://www.swamij.com and try to find the "Download" section from there. If you cannot find that, look around the site and try to find the document. If even that fails, download a local copy dated April 25, 2006 (see below if the package has been updated since then), in a single ZIP file package.

Added and corrected on August 1, 2006:

Corrected a broken link to the swamij.com site and updated the local package file. T. T. Sri Swami Rama's book "Enlightenment Without God" has been added to it. Note that, as swamij.com site notes explicitly about the book, it is not anti-God.

Also, I'd like to add that the meditation method taught by Swami Rama, as he learned it from his teacher, and he from his own teacher, and so on, according to the Himalayan tradition, is called "superconscious meditation".
Do you REALLY practice meditation? If your REALLY do, do you practice a GOOD method? Are you sure this is REALLY so?
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Alisima
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Re: Meditation lessons (T. T. Swami Rama teachings booklet)

Post: # 5936Post Alisima »

Please understand that this is Yoga, and it will only work if you are prepared to practice at least for 10 years, or rather, if you are prepared to do it for an eternity. Only if you are really, really into this you should do it, otherwise you will fail. And only if you do it correctly. So really, it is though, you must be up for the challenge. This is one mistake people make, that they think they will realise soon, or that they will see changes soon. This is not going to happen unless you are absolutly eager. So many people start with Yoga, and many stop also. Because they are deceived, by themselves. They think something will happen through Yoga and gradualy forget all about Yoga and focus on what they will 'gain' through it instead. Then it is not going to work. Ofcourse through Yoga many things may happen, but only if you are focused on Yoga and not on the things that may or may not happen. It is the same as when I say that through play childeren get happy, your mind then assumes that if you were to start playing happiness would follow. But then when you play you play because you want something, then it will not happen. Only if you put all your energy into play and forget about happiness, only then will happiness come. Same is with Yoga, if you place more emphasize on the Siddhis (spiritual/psychic powers, astral travels etc..) and forget about Yoga you will get nothing out of it. Only if you forget the Siddhis and focus on Yoga solely will any result come.

My advice is that before you seriously begin a 10 years journey, it is really going to take that long, see if you are up to it. Do a 10-day concentration exercise, if those 10 days are going fine and you feel great, then perhapse you can start your 10-years journey. Swami Rama says that the path is easy, but we hadn't had a teacher/master who initiated us, he DID. Ofcourse it is going to be easy for him, he has been taught from the beginning. But we havent, so logically we are going to have more setbacks, more desperation and more 'reasons' to drop the whole thing. So before you begin, try it first, don't be serious about it, see it as a game. And the concetration can be on anything, really, the object concentrated on is not of importance, it is the concentrating which is important. So you can concentrate on your breathing, concentrate on the middle of you tongue, concentrate on the weight of your body against the chair, or concentrate on an outward object, just paint a dot on the wall! Really, it doesn't matter on what you concentrate, it is the concentration which is important. But don't deceive yourself, don't think that now you are concentrated, be concentrated. There is a difference. Don't think that you are concentrated, it will disturb your concentration, instead deepen it, try your best to concentrate more and more and more. But there are other traps too, through concentration you can get into a trance and see beautiful things, but this will just be another dream, another illusion. Don't fall asleep. That is not the point, it will be refreshing though, the sleep, but it won't serve the original purpose. Stay concentrated on your object of concentration. Only if you can do that easily, real easy, drop the object of concentration, it will almost happen automatically, but don't drift of to sleep, go the other way: into sleepless sleep. I doubt that that will happen, in the first 10 days, but nevertheless you will become acquainted with your mind and all the ways it will try to stop you.

My point is, what is the use of Yoga if you are going to stop it again?? What is the use of starting if you are going to stop before you have finished?? All wasted years. So beware, before you start your 10-year journey ask yourself whether you are up to it. And it matters not if you aren't up for it, there are many other 10-year journeys, many other ways of getting there. But if you use the wrong path, you will get astray. Really, in the old days it used to be like this. The master would wait until he saw that the disciple was ready, otherwise he won't start because it won't have any use. So before you even start my suggested 10-day concentration exercise do 10 days of contemplation whether you actually want this, then you will know what you Ego wants, what you mind wants and what you want. Then throw all this away and start. But be aware, be very aware.

P.S. These aren't my words though, they are leftovers from what I have read in books, paraphrased if you like. But they resonate with me, so I feel a need to post them. But don't listen to me, I know nothing about it. Listen to yourself. See what you think.
Don't read my signature.
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Aisin
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Post: # 5938Post Aisin »

I beg to differ. There is no need to hesitate whether to learn something or not. Yoga has a very wide scope, no beginner can infuse every aspect of it into one's life totally in a short time. But that shouldn't stop anybody from learning more about it, perhaps as a way of life.

Yoga as an art, is like music. When you start learning an instrument, or listening to a song, you don't really decide to start doing it only if you're going to continue for the next 10 years or for a lifetime.

Yoga as a physical exercise (the most well-known aspect of yoga), is like soccer. Even if you've attained some skills, and then stopped years later, you'd have had great pleasure playing soccer for some time.

IMO, the viewpoints of Alisima apply better to the context of 'becoming a yogi' instead of 'learning the principles of yoga'.
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shezmear
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Post: # 5943Post shezmear »

Alisima,I have read what you have said and I can relate to it, however ten years is a long time for anybody in this day and age, I think if people set themselves these little goals first and achieve them and if all works out then try bigger one’s, then nobody will fail. I do this regular throughout my life, I meditate then after 30 days I stop then when I feel ready I start again, I have learned that for me, there are things I need to do physically so sitting around mediating does not quite cut it, and then there are times when I need to stop and just mediate, and yes there are many paths to the same place.
By their deeds shall you know them.
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Teda
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Post: # 5945Post Teda »

Great link Vesko! Thanks.
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

- Maori proverb
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