Advaita : Some Basic Explanations - 6

[hbdave]

Ravisankar S. Mayavaram wrote:

> Respected Sri H. B. Dave
>
> Let me first thank you for this series.
>
> > "The Final Frontier - Letters to Gargi", By H.B. Dave, being
> > published.
> >
>
> If possible, can you give theme/details of your book.

The book tries to unify the concepts in RajaYoga, Tantra, Upanishads,
RigVeda and modern cognitive science including physiology of
meditation and also contains a lot of practicle details about a system
of meditation that I used to teach some years back. I have done a bit
of research in these lines and come up with some interesting results.

The work is in form of letters written to a student (Gargi) and also
a question/answer session for each letter.

If you are interested I can give title and brief contents  of each
chapter.

>
>
> > In Yoga, three Nadis ({\skt naa.dii}), -- paths of movements of
> > Kundalini
> > ({\skt ku.n.dalinii}) the nerve energy -- are defined to be existing
> > in the
> > Merudanda ({\skt meruda.n.da}) -- wrongly translated as the Spinal
> > cord, it
> > really means nerve signals on frequency plane --  of a person :
>
> Merudanda and these naadi-s are initimately connected to the spine of
> the body. For instance, kriya yoga uses this connection for moving the
> praNa by the power of will along sushumna. Practice of few kriya-s
> correctly -- leads to mental calmness, and gives the ability to
> meditate - the results are there and undeniable.  The link between
> physical spine and merudanda on which chakra-s are located, I think, is
> taken for granted in yoga.

Who has translated the word "merudanda"? on what bases? My research
has shown me sufficient reasons to reject "spinal chord" as the principle
meaning of the word merudanda.

> The traditional praNayama done during
> sandhya can also be done as kriya praNayama and one can link it with
> movement of praNa along sushumna. I believe (my belief) that is the
> best way to do praNayama.
>
> Hence, I do not completely agree with the statement about "wrong
> translation."  This has some link in osteopathic medicine also. I
> recently heard a reference to work by Sutherland on "primary
> respiration"  (in the audiobook Spontaneous Healing -- in the context
> of Dr. Fulford's healing techniques). I personally believe that
> movement of praaNa is closely linked to health and disease (incorrect
> movement).
>

I shall be as brief as possible.
1.    In all Vaidika sciences (I include Upanishads and Veds in that)
there
        is a basic principle of Homology. This is one of the great finding
of our
        forefathers. This has given rise to considerable confusion in
interpretation
    of these sciences. To take just one example : what is the meaning of
the word
    praa.naa.h   - is it physical breath? or nerve signals, or Soul? life
force?

    The fact is : there are three basic activities in our body/mind
complex :
        breathing                                 (cardio-vasacular
function)
        peripheral nerve activity
        brain activity
    These three are very closely linked and that is why Rishis used the
same
    word to denote all these three! The brain activity is also called
vaak.
    From the  functional view point, these three form, what we information

    scientists call, a "feed-back loop" :

                                        o  Vaak (brain activity)
                                      /   \
                                    /        \
                                /                \
                            /                        \
                          o----------- o  Praa.na (breathing)
   Praa.na (peripheral nerve activity)

A Hatha Yogi controls Praa.na through various locks like Mulabandha,
Jalandhara bandha, etc. with a hope of controlling Vaak indirectly,

A Raja Yogi controls Vaak (via meditation) and achieves the same
end results. In fat, during a meditation session, most meditators
achieve Jalandhara bandha and/or Mulabandha without trying,
even without knowing about them!

A Jnani, just by Vichara, achieves the same final stage, or even belond.

The point I wish to make is : though the external practice taught by
a Yoga teacher may be different, all of them basically works via
entering the three-way feed-back loop shown above.

I can write in further details but possibly I am taxing patience of
other list members.

>
> >
> > [Ida {\skt i.daa}] -- supposed to be on the left side of the
> > Merudanda;
> > the low frequency components of the EEG, Delta/Theta waves;
> > associated
> > colours : black, brown, deep red;
> >
> > [Pingala {\skt pi"ngalaa}] -- supposed to be on the right hand side
> > of the
> > Merudanda; the high frequency components of EEG, Beta waves;
> > associated
> > colours : yellow, orange and bright red;
> >
> > [Sushumna {\skt su.sum.naa}] -- supposed to be in the middle of the
> > Merudanda;
> > the mid-frequeency components of EEG; Alpha waves; associated colours
> > :
> > blue, green and violet;
>
> > Merudanda means a {\skt da.nda) - a stick, measuring rod, by which
> > you
>
> naaDi-s are not compeletely one side of  sushumna. For iDa starts at
> the left side  of muulaadhaara and  but ends up finally on the right
> nostril. And pingala starts at the right side and ends up in the left
> nostril. They cross each other every chakra. (this I write from
> memory).
>

There are two points here :
1.    Ida, Pingala, Sushumna being names of the state of the nervous
energy
        - Kundalini -  they basically refer to the same phenomena.

2.    What you have discribed is the process during one method of
Pranayama
        by which the Kundalini can be guided into Sushumna, by alternate
        "breathing". This leads to good meditation in a short time.

If you look up a text on Yoga, like HathayogaPradipika by Yogindra,
it is very clearly mentioned that Ida is Naadi on the Left and Pingala
on the right and Sushumna is in the middle.

>
> >         {\skt catvaari vaak parimitaa ... ...}
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
>
> There is good discussion on this subject in saubhAgya bhAskara -- a
> commentary on lalitAsahasranAma. I am sure you are aware of this. In
> any case - the discussion is under the name "paraa".
>
> > Sanskrit, as used in Vedas, is special in this respect, it can
> > communicate
> > at {\skt vaikharii madhyamaa} or {\skt pa"syantii} levels, by a
> > special
> > process known as Vashat {\skt va.sa.tkaara.h} (no English word
> > available,
> > as Western science does not know about this process.)
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > I think Tamil should also have similar property, but I can not say
> > with force, I do not know Tamil at all (unfortunately). Both
> > languages
> > are product of the same process of language generation, pre-Vedic.
> > May be some day, someone ... ...
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Can you elaborate -- to the extent possible -- on this principle of
> vaShaTkAra.

Normally whatever you hear as a sentence in, say, English, is interpreted
and abstracted at various levels of brain. We in India call the languages
of
the  messages exchanged between these analysing/synthesizing  levels
-Vaikhari, Madhyama, Pashyanti and Para.

Normally all that we take in has to pass through these analysis in order
to
get absorbed as some knowledge.

But our forefathers found that certain sound combinations and rhythms
can by-pass these analysis almost fully and the communication between
the external signal can be straight to Pashyanti/ Para level (i.e. with
Anandamaya Kosha). This is my theory (that our forefathers knew this).
A simple example is say classical music, or an abstract painting.

This process of by-passing the normal analysis by the brain layers and
direct communication with Anandamaya is called Vashat and the agent
(sound, syllable, colour, etc.) is the Vashatkaar.

I hope I was clear enough.

> That will help us to at least think about it. The notion
> "pre-Vedic", is it not a by product of western thinking?

Yes, of course. But I have to use the language many people use.
What was meant is : the original language which is possibly
mother of both Sanskrit and Tamil.

>
> Some Tamil traditions think Tamil was coeval with Sanskrit, and  both
> emanated from the drum of shiva.

 Very Good. Pl. see above.

>
> Thank you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ravi
>
> =====
> ambaaL daasan
>
> Ravi
>
> sharaNAgata raxakI nivEyani sadA ninnu nammiti mInAxI
>
> http://www.ambaa.org/  http://www.advaita-vedanta.org
>
> __________________________________________________

Thanks for question!
-- Himnashu