Knowledge and Meditation

Pranava is the energized Word.  As the seers and Rishis say, "If the three matras of AUM (A, U, & M – waking, dreaming, & deep sleep) remain disconnected, there is mortality.  But when connected to the prana they are rightly employed.  What is peaceful, undecaying, immortal, free from fear, the Seer attains by means of AUM."

Contemplation should end in a conclusion, a siddhanta.  Then, one is to meditate on that conclusion.  Otherwise, contemplation is about as beneficial as hazy dreaming.

Lex Hixon's favorite slogan for inspiring and encouraging others was: Intensification and clarification!

Approaching a microphone, one will usually say, "testing, 1, 2, 3."  But Sankhya wants you to approach your mind and say "testing, 2, 3, 5":  "2" means recognize the dual nature of the universe; "3" means contemplate the triputis (sets of threes) because they lead one to a conclusion that transcends the dualities; "5" means understand, navigate, then dissolve, sublimate, or transcend the quintuplications in nature (i.e. the 5 elements, 5 senses, 5 tanmatras, 5 fold mind (including Mahat), 5 atmospheres/akashas, 5 pranas, etc).

Triputis are like atoms of knowledge.  They have to be penetrated until they implode and release the perennial wisdom existing within.  They are like portals enabling one to overcome fear, brooding on fear and doubt, which are the constituents of the curtain of nescience.

The adept seeker asks not why there is suffering and maya, but rather how to transform the poison of Maya into the Nectar of immortality.

In Tantra, Yoga, and other systems, one does not fixate on the object to know its surface meaning, but rather inspects the object with the illumined intelligence to get a clue to its Essence.

You cannot know an object, because it is insentient.  You, however, are Sentient, the Sentient Principle.  The Sentient and the insentient cannot mix, and that they do so temporarily is a matter of great confusion in the minds of men, and a cause for deep concern about their freedom.

The heart has its own Intelligence, and the mind has its own Love.  Together they form the two wings of the soul-bird which enables it to soar in rapt meditation.

With Her nondual sword in one hand, and the severed head She holds in another, Mother Kali represents Jnanam (spiritual Wisdom).

There is false knowledge, mixed knowledge, secular knowledge, intellectual knowledge, the knowledge of spiritual laws like scripture, and then there is Truth.  We go from lower truth to higher truth, and never, as Swami Vivekananda stated, from error to Truth.  Even false knowledge – like the reflection of the moon in a mud-puddle – carries some benefit for us.

If you keep Truth at the level of Aparinama and Ajativada (nontransformation and birthlessness), then you will understand everything from scriptural truth on down.

Get knowledge before you meditate.  Do a thorough sadhana around scriptural study.  Meditation will be an entirely enlightening experience for you after you know the teachings of your tradition.  People tend to get a screw loose when they meditate too long, like for eight hours at a time, with no foundation under them but some foggy notion of formlessness or void.  They also never develop the spirit of selfless service via this empty mode, and only become immature renunciates.  All the Yogas must be taken up and developed equally – study, service, devotion, and meditation.

What is imbalance of mind when speaking of sadhana?  It is too much of one form of practice to the exclusion of all the others.  As usual, balance is the key.

Deep sleep is very connected to the Ocean of Sorrowless Light.  Only, the veil of nescience persists.

Practice the mantra as you go to sleep and as soon as you wake up, and in this way push against the veil of nescience.  The veil of nescience, by the way, consists of doubt, fear, worry, and brooding over events of the past, present, and future.

Slow japa practice down to the point that it affords the most thorough and loving concentration.