Meditation and Dreams: Share your experience

[sesame]

Tamaso ma Jyotirgamaya
Asato ma Sadgamaya
Mrityor ma AmritanGamayeti.

-Upanishad.

Lead me from darkness to Light.
Lead me from delusion to Truth.
Deliver me from death to immortality.

[GRH]

The names are currently escaping me, but last night I read the "Food to Joy" Upanishad as well as the "Six Questions" Upanishad that is oft paired with the Mundaka. The "Food to Joy" was an in particularly good read.

[sesame]

The Main Upanishads are:

1. Aitareya Upanishad from Rigveda
   
2. Kena Upanishad from Samveda
   
3. Chandogya Upanishad from Samveda
   
4. Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad is the most important, from White Yajur Veda
   
5. Svetasvatara Upanishad is from Yajur veda (my fav)
   
6. Katha Upanishad from Yajurveda
   
7. Taittiriya Upanishad is from Yajurveda
   
8. Isha Upanishad from White Yajurveda
   
9. Mundaka Upanishad from Atharva veda
   
10. Prashna Upanishad comes from Atharva veda
    
11. Mandukya Upanishad is essence of all upanishads***, Atharva veda

Originally Posted by GRH

The names are currently escaping me, but last night I read the "Food to Joy" Upanishad as well as the "Six Questions" Upanishad that is oft paired with the Mundaka. The "Food to Joy" was an in particularly good read.

Food to Joy Upanishad? What Upanishad is that? To which Veda does it belong? I have never heard of it!

[sesame]

Acting is more or less a common factor of life!

A holy man once told me that we are all pretending most of the time. We are performing in front of our relatives, friends and even to ourselves!

We hide our real thoughts and feelings from everyone. We are afraid or ashamed of other people, or may be we dont want to hurt them. So we put up an appearance of happiness and harmony even though our opinions dont concur.

"Doubt whom you will, but never yourself."
If we doubt our own beliefs, we can no longer continue with our lives in a usual manner. There will be a great conflict or mental breakdown. To avoid this, the mind, which is a conglomerate of thoughts, and quite inventive, adapts a strategy to continue usual life. It starts pretending to itself and starts denying the disrupting issues, as if they dont exist. It is with great control over the mind, can we dare to face the Reality of ourselves.

There is constant strife inside every one of us!
Sometimes we notice it from afar, or we miss the whole internal drama.
I am in control! These are my own thoughts. I am the doer.
Who controls whom? If you are in control of your mind,
then, who are you? Does the body control the mind?
Or is it the mind that controls the body?

[GRH]

Alright, I read Taittiriya (From Food to Joy) and Prashna Upanishads the other night. The "From Food to Joy" is derived from a little subtitle thing the author had written in, that stuck in my mind a lot better than the Indian name. Last night I began the Chandogya.

[sesame]

Read Sri Aurobindo's 10 upanishads. Nothing can be better than that. He was not only a good author but a Highly accomplished Yogi. He understood first hand what he was saying. Indians consider him as a Rishi, sage, seer; the same as the authors of the Upanishads.

Read the translation of Swami Sishya Samvad if you can find one. Dialogues between the Master and Disciple. The master being the great Yogi Swami Vivekananda and disciple Saratchandra Chakraborty. Its philosophy in motion and the language is just like me and you conversing! Its that simple! The english name is "Talks with Swami Vivekananda".

[ila]

Originally Posted by sesame

Read Sri Aurobindo's 10 upanishads.

Sesame, what are the upanishads? I have seen you mention them several times in the last few days. This is the first time I have ever seen the term and I would like to know more.

[sesame]

Which Book to read?
Bordo Thodol will appear gibberish.
Dhammapada is too vast.
Jataka stories are all about moral values, cleverly narrated.

Find something about Vipassana meditation instead. Its easy and direct and the substance of Dhammapada and the real teaching of Buddha.
The flowery branches of Buddhism... Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana came much later. The essencial teaching of Buddha is Yogic Meditation. For the first 500 years after Buddha's passing, there were no images of Buddha. Buddha forbade ritual worship. He said, "Follow the enlightened path and become Buddha yourself!" But knowledge comes with hard practice. And common people only wanted to worship the Enlightened One, not become Him! So after 500 years of referring Buddha as images of Bodhi tree, or the Ladder, or with symbols, finally his image was carved out of stone. And the era of ritual worship began in Buddhism. Gradually in Vajrayana Buddhism, the whole religion became ridden with numerous Deities, yabyum and Tantric rituals! Rituals are representatives of the difficult yogic accomplishments. Then came rituals that represented preceding rituals... gradually the rituals lost their real meanings! The yogic steps that were the essence, were soon forgotten, replaced by chants and postures and deities that were quite irrelevent!

After the end of the Pala era, the Buddhists who could, took refuge in forests, most wise ones found their way to Tibet (follow the silk route) and the rest were either killed or converted to Islam. Bihar, which was the main seat of Buddhism, became a killing ground for the Buddhists. The famous Nalanda University was burnt to ashes. The Islamic word "Booth-Parasti" meaning "Idol worship" was coined during this period by the conquerors. "Booth" means "Buddha". The monasteries were lavishly decorated with idols of Buddha and numerous other deities. The gold hidden in the monasteries were the sought after items. Also, the Hindu Kings turned their backs to the fallen Vajrayana Buddhists. They were fed up with the Tantric sexual orgies and frequent abortions of vajrayana nuns! This resulted in a huge population of social outcasts! 500 years ago, (from now) Sri Chaitanya absorbed them back into the mainstream of the society and this in turn resulted in a sudden increase in the Vaishnava population. Thus Buddhist Vipassana became extinct from India, centuries ago, vanished without trace with the Pala Dynasty. The Buddhists came back later, but the Jem of Vipassana was long lost, only the skeleton of Buddhism remained. Though, I must mention the Buddhist Lamas deep in the Himalayas. They must have retained it somehow.

Ajapa sadhana has always remained with the great Hindu yogis of the Himalayas (another form of Vipassana). Hints are also in the Gita. Chapter 4, verse 29. Sewing up mantras with the inhalation and exhalation is a very ancient technique of the Yogis of yore, even before Patanjali. Recently, Vipassana has reappeared again. Hints about it are scattered in Dhammapada. This wonderful meditation remained hidden among the Buddhists of Thailand for many centuries.

For basics about the spirit, Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Sankhyayoga is a treasure chest. The Upanishads are great too, but there are so many and they are sooo vast. I like Shvetashvatara Upanishad Not only does it describe the Absolute Consciousness, but also gives hints about Yoga in gradual stages. Wisdom without real experience is of no use. So a basic knowledge and consistant practice are both necessary.

[GRH]

Thanks for elaborating on the history somewhat sesame. Forget what I told you about going to the bookstore this weekend, I found a much cheaper means of procuring Vedic literature.

www.vedicbooks.net