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Sri Humananda "In worldly-minded people, given to enjoyment of sensual and sexual pleasures, this Kundalini power is sleeping because of the absence of any stimulus in the form of spiritual practices, as the power generated through such practices alone awakens that serpent-power, and not any other power derived through the possession of worldly riches and affluence." Striking Inner Gold Gold is one of those really cool elements. Its purity is measured in karats. I know of nine karat and 14 karat, and there may be more. Eighteen karats is 75% pure and twenty-four karats is 100% pure. The gold is made more pure by removing the impurities from it via a process involving intense heat. In the same way, the Path towards oneself involves the removing of impurities. These impurities are those understandings that create and uphold your beliefs that there is a you and a not-you. The greatest of impurities are the created self-concept and its associations such as ego and individualism. Yoga is the heat applied to the self-concept. On a Path of Jnana (Knowledge) it starts with the most basic and yet most potent of questions "Who am I?" The continuous investigation into the "I" creates the heat. On a Path of Tantra the refinement is a way of life based on some foundational principles rather than, or really in addition to the more intellectual approach of Jnana. One of the foundational principles of Tantra (but almost all of yoga) is that of diet. It becomes deeply important not only what you eat, but how you eat as well. My Teacher used to say to eat as often as you can, as little as you can, chew as well as you can, eat as slow as you can, and eat as many colors as you can. From the yogic diet we also learn of those foods that are rajasic (passionate), sattvic (pure), and tamasic (dull, or what I'll just call stupid, which you can figure easily), and for us to stick to the pure foods. For Tantrics, food is the essential starting point in a long chain, and the chain links like this: From the food that you eat, a chyle (via WordWeb: "A milky fluid consisting of lymph and emulsified fats; formed in the small intestine during digestion of ingested fats") is produced by the mix of your chewing and the enzymes in your mouth and intestines. From the very essence of the chyle - the refined bio-energy part thereof – similar to the purification process of gold - blood is produced. From the essence of blood (refined again) muscle is produced, from the essence of muscle, sinew, from the essence of sinew, bone is produced, from this essence, marrow is produced, and from the essence of marrow, reproduction energy is created in the form of the sperm and the egg – from which we all come. Tantra is all about the energies inside of you. From the essence (the refined energy) of the sperm and the eggs, prana is produced. Prana is Life Force that sustains your being. In Tantra, this energy, usually associated with intercourse (but not always, as exemplified by Tantra and other yogas such as Kundalini), has two ways of flowing – in, or out, or more technically correct, up, or down. With orgasm, the essence leaves the body, which is why it is so easy to fall asleep afterwards, but with the "inner orgasm" the prana is drawn up into the body along the nadi (energy channels) in the spine and distributed through the chakras to all parts of the body, energizing the entire body with psychic energy that is required in your efforts to tread the Path to your Self. You can expend your gold for the temporary pleasure of the body or for the use on your Path to your inner Self, which when energized like this, facilitates the wellbeing of the entire universe and all beings via your then more enlightened state of Being for a while. You then have become a co-worker in the labor of keeping the darkness in the world at bay. My Friends, we live in both worlds, as I have mentioned so many times, so we really need to take both paths and not always take only one. The body needs to function according to its design which is really and truly totally perfect. Inhibition of the body should be moderate as always, but the furthering of the spirit should also not be neglected. Only by the use and balance of both the moderate inhibition of the body and the energetic generation of spiritual energy can you refine the gold to pay for your ultimate Journey, which can be very, very expensive. Namaste.
Sri Humananda © Dwapara 307 (2007) |