[Advaita-l] Asana Siddhi

[Swati Gupta]

Thank you Sujalji.  Thanks a lot.  

My comments inline below:

From: Sujal Upadhyay via Advaita-l
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2018 10:07 AM
To: advaita-l
Cc: Sujal Upadhyay
Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Asana Siddhi

Namate Smt. Swati ji,

I too have this problem. btw, which kind of meditation / sAdhanA are your
doing? You do not need to align with any subtle body. You may feel other
bodies, but purposefully aligning is not what I would recommend. It will,
in the end, result into bondage, as once you tune into any kosha, you will
feel to connect with it again and again.
My Sadhana varied over time.  It was always a combination of my Guru Mantra with one of Lalita Sahasranama or Soundarya Lahari or Durga Saptashati / Chandi Path.
Last few years I started focusing more and more on Guru mantra Japa (less and less on other recitations) even though mind craves for novelty all the time.
Advaita makes perfect sense intellectually but it was a lot easier for me to meditate on Divine Mother in my Bhrumadhya.  I use my guru mantra as a temporary crutch to go beyond.  I drop guru mantra and slip into silence.
I do not understand connecting to various koshas while meditating.  When I was in school I remember reading how Sri RamaKrishna Paramahamsa poked Swami Vivekananda on his Bhrumadhya and asked him to concentrate on the sensation in meditation.  Since then that has been my practice.            

What I am being told is that, asana siddhi happens by itself (in advaita
meditation). Once your mind is detached with physical body, and it is fully
concentrated in the mantra or in neti-neti, then one does not feel physical
body. Till one remains in this state, there will not be any problem. In my
case, at times, I do come back to body consciousness and come to know that
60-90 mins have passed. My legs do not get numb or go asleep not do I feel
the pain in my back. But this is not the case every day, so in 3 or more
hours of daily meditation, I have to rest my back as my consciousness is
not always detached with physical body. Most times, I have to unfold my
legs.
Your words “Asana Siddhi happens by itself” are very encouraging and assuring.  I hope its not just in Advaita meditation alone.
I totally can relate to your experience on how time flies for an hour or so.  Time starts slowing down after when body acts up.

So when we sit for 5-6 hours, I do have to take a break. I try not to open
my eyes. when consciousness is partly in the body, I do feel pain in back
and numbness in legs.
Remember when we are fully engrossed in TV serials or in a movie, we do not
even change the body position and posture. We do not feel pain during that
time. Similar concept in applicable in japa. when mind is detached with
body, and at times it is above time, then we do not know how much time has
passed. Once we come back to body consciousness, we feel very fresh. there
is no pain due to meditation (if it has happened properly).

Tuning with prANamaya will make you fresh, tuning with manomaya will make
you capable to purge all worldly and or sensual thoughts and emotions,
thereby making it clean and bright. sahasrAra of manomaya kosha will expand
and there will be a flow of divine energy which inturn will influence
prANamaya kosha. Tuning into viGYAnamaya wil lhlep you go beyond shapes.
Thoughts do have shapes. In viGYAnamaya kosha, there is no shape, and the
desire is nothing but raw unstable energy and it can be removed before it
takes shape and projects itself through mayamoaya kosha. for example, if
you like any hero, viGYanamaya will activate it's sensual desire. But it
will not take shape of your favorite hero. Before that , if you are aware,
you can purge the desire before it takes shape of your favorite hero. If
you tune in Anandamaya kosha, it gives pleasent feeling. In most cases,
higher moska-s like viGYanamaya and Ananamaya and in some cases where there
is no character building and no contemplation and reading of shAstra-s,
even manomaya kosha is very dull. For beginning even prANamaya kosha is
dull and is smaller. AS one progresses, it expands. By staying in higher
kosha-s, one can control lower kosha-s. In advaita this is not given much
importance.
I need to invest time to read up on how to tune to various koshas like you described.

So, the answer is, asana siddhi will happen by itself as you will go deep
inward.Rest, we must leave it to the grace of guru and Ishvara.
you are very fortunate that you are able to meditate for more than 3 hours.
May there will always be Siva krupA on you and you achieve moksha in this
life itself.
Thank you Sujalji.  Thanks a lot.  

Humble praNAms

OM

Sujal Upadhyay

"To disconnect from the self and to become Aware of anything else is
nothing but unhappiness" - Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi

He who has faith has all
He who lacks faith, lacks all
It is the faith int he name of lord that works wonders
FAITH IS LIFE, DOUBT IS DEATH - Sri Ramakrishna


On Mon, Aug 27, 2018 at 4:47 PM Aditya Kumar via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>  I am not an expert but I can share something which might be useful.
> Basically you need to align yourself with the pranic or subtle body.
> Yogasana, pranayama and mantra japa are all interconnected and they all
> help achieve the same goal. Yogasana alone will not help us reaching the
> destiny. Pranayama has to be done if you need to see a tangible progress.
> Breathing through alternate nostrils is not pranayama, it is nadi shuddhi.
> You have to chant the mantras to expand your breath. Without the expansion
> of breath, there is no way you can disassociate with your body and its
> ailments. Mantras should be chanted with the body still. Chanting mantras
> aloud will not fetch the desired results. You need to mutter OM deeply.
> Eventually you'll start seeing the results as the transformation will be
> holistic.
>     On Monday, 27 August, 2018, 12:48:04 PM IST, Swati Gupta via Advaita-l
> <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>  Pranam to all,
>
> Are there any secrets/techniques/asanas/kriyas to lengthen the time one
> can sit in Sadhana with spine erect (say 6-8 hours)?
> I am ok with 3 – 3.5 hours but failing to go beyond (my back gives up
> after that).
>
> I see so many learned members – I am hoping somebody might have some
> guidance for me.
>
> Thank you.
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