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11jono11

United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - Jul 29 2010 :  3:03:51 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Message
I don't know if anyone would answer it if they did, I don't see why not, but has anyone awakened through AYP? / Know anyone that has?

How long did you/they practice for?

Peace, Love and Light

Om Shanti

Shanti

USA
4854 Posts

Posted - Jul 30 2010 :  5:22:38 PM  Show Profile  Visit Shanti's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I am going to take a shot at this... although it may be wise not to, because there are people at this forum that don't like it when people say they are at a certain point. Also, the definition of enlightenment is so varied, that it is impossible to fit all the ideas about enlightenment that people have, into a single definition. But the basic "I am that" model of enlightenment is what I am talking about.

There are 3 main stages to experiencing "I am that" (enlightenment) that I have experienced. The first are glimpses into "I am that". But once out of it, we go back to being a part of the dream. I refer to these as awakenings. When this happens, there is no turning back... once you have tasted the nectar, there is no un-tasting it. .

Then there is a point when we know "I am that", however we are still very much associated with/attached to the body mind. There is an inner knowing (beyond the mind) that all that is happening is not us, we are just a screen on which it is all happening, however we are still the screen. The screen is still an object on which it is all happening. Now the focus shifts from wishing "I am that" to knowing "I am that".

Then comes "I am that". When this happens, there is uninhibited joy. Now the focus shifts from knowing "I am that" to being "that". This is the ultimate stage, but not final. Because there is further expansion in every moment after this.

One way to explain this is to say there is an infant, a child and an adult. When we are a child, we cannot become an infant again, but we continue to grow as a child. Then, when we become an adult, there is no going back to being a child, but there is still growing as an adult. Similarly, when there is a knowing of "I am that", there is still growth but there is no more going back to wishing "I am that" and then when there is being “that”, there is still growth, but there is no going back to the stage of knowing "I am that".

Although I cannot really speak for anyone else, I can say, based on conversations I have had with some other AYPers, as well as posts I have read from them, that there are a few here who have realized enlightenment from AYP in 4-5 years, or so, of practice. Some others among us, I’d say, are really close to enlightenment after 4-5 years of practice, they are just hanging there (“knowing”) by a thread, ready to drop into “being” enlightened. And there are some who have been practicing for a couple of years and are close to, or at, the “knowing” stage, as well; maybe some a little farther along than that.

I hope some others do chime in.
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Jul 30 2010 :  6:54:05 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by 11jono11

I don't know if anyone would answer it if they did, I don't see why not, but has anyone awakened through AYP? / Know anyone that has?

How long did you/they practice for?

Peace, Love and Light

Om Shanti






Hi 11jono11, Shanti & All,

Interesting question, Jono, and great post, Shanti - I agree with everything you've said, and like the three "I am that" stages you outlined, as well; that's been my general experience/"trajectory", as well -- and it's a simple and concise way to explain it.

I also like the infant, child, adult analogy.

This knowing our true nature by being our true nature is what most teachers and traditions have called "enlightenment".

And so, "yep; me, too."



Sometimes people make a really big deal out of enlightenment, and on some levels it is, though in experience it's infinitely more normal than anything else could ever be, or be imagined to be --- it's just reality; that's all.



AYP can, and does, facilitate actual enlightenment --- the same exact enlightenment outlined by sages of all traditions, throughout history.

It's real, it's available --- yes, for you (anyone reading) --- it's everyone's true nature, to exactly the same degree.

AYP, and similar systems, can help to remove the cloud-cover of misunderstanding, so that life can be experienced as it actually is:

Perfect.



Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman
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Yonatan

Israel
849 Posts

Posted - Jul 30 2010 :  7:18:57 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thanks jono, for asking the question, and shanti and kirtanman for replying. This really helps.

Love

Yonatan
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Jul 30 2010 :  8:22:39 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by Yonatan

Thanks jono, for asking the question, and shanti and kirtanman for replying. This really helps.

Love

Yonatan



Thanks, Yonatan; you're welcome - glad to hear it helps!

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman

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11jono11

United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - Aug 02 2010 :  8:28:10 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Yes, thank you Shanti and Kirtanman and Yonatan you are very welcome. At first I wasn't sure about asking it, but glad I did. I am considering taking up AYP in place of Kriya. Kriya is always said to be the lightning path but if people have awakened in 4-5years through AYP that is faster than anyone I have heard of awakening through Kriya. Additionally with there being so many different forms of Kriya out there, each one claiming to be the true practice and others false it seems it takes so long to find the "right" path that Kriya becomes the snail path. Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji all love, respect and blessings to you, i hope/ am sure you understand my predicament, being told by each person that their Kriya is correct and other Kriya is wrong. Though I know it is not about speed, everything happens as it should, everything is perfect as it is, more so everything just is, though the mind wants things to happen faster, ironic as it is unsuspectingly speeding towards its own demise mwhahahaha . With a lot of Kriya I am told it is 90% the grace of the Guru and 10% your own practice that gets you towards awakening (or something like that), but this has never sat well with me, surely as individual manifestations of God/the one/Unity/Consciousness it is 100% our own effort, otherwise Gurus would just be going round hitting people on the head and giving enlightenment out like nobodies business.

With AYP am I right in thinking that there is 2x 20mins a day of active practice? And it never increases? (when I say active I mean the rest of the time one can be enquiring, performing, Jnana, Bakti, Karma yoga, correct?).

So Shanti, Kirtanman you have both awakened? Yes? Wonderful

How do these stages of which you speak correlate to the different levels of enlightenment eg Nirvikalpa Samadhi etc?

And how can a system with less active practice be getting better results than Kriya, when people can be practicing for 3/4/5 hours a day?

I will have a go at answering my own question, I have had moments of emptiness after Kriya practice, few and far between, but they are there, though the practice (i have come across anyway) does not really encourage one to integrate all aspects of your life as coming back to your true self, it's kind of like your 1/2/3 hours of practice is over and then you're done for the day, that's your bit of God time "out of the way" and Yay! you can now go back to Mara/Maya . Sorry if I am saying things which would be best placed/asked somewhere else but I think this kind of connects, also I don't mean any offense to anything or anyone, all is love (well actually is love/bliss not the bi=product of everything that simply is, nameless, unknown) and I am just searching for the most effective way to confirm that for this manifestation that has been called "Jono" ("Me")

Sorry to waffel on, any responses would be nice, or no responses would be equally nice I am sure.

Om Shanti

Edited by - 11jono11 on Aug 02 2010 9:45:21 PM
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cosmic

USA
821 Posts

Posted - Aug 03 2010 :  12:52:38 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by 11jono11

With AYP am I right in thinking that there is 2x 20mins a day of active practice? And it never increases? (when I say active I mean the rest of the time one can be enquiring, performing, Jnana, Bakti, Karma yoga, correct?).


Hello Jono . In AYP, there are add-on practices that can increase your practice time, such as Spinal Breathing Pranayama and Samyama. It's recommended to keep Deep Meditation at 20 mins, but your overall "active practice" time will increase if you add these practices.

Including a rest period, my practice is about 50 mins, 2x per day. The meditation part is only 20 mins though. Some people practice for over an hour!

Hopefully someone will answer your other questions.

With Love
cosmic
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cosmic

USA
821 Posts

Posted - Aug 03 2010 :  01:19:13 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
BTW, I'm not enlightened

But here's where I am:

Thoughts have become very subtle and refined (and quiet). The mind is still active, but it's losing its momentum. When thoughts start to arise, something automatically notices and drops them before they finish.

I guess I'm at the threshold where it takes more effort to engage in thoughts rather than drop them. So most of the time I just remain silent and let the thoughts drop away.

I'm glad you're considering AYP and I highly recommend it! Best wishes to you

Thank you Shanti for the model you described. I find it useful!

Back to my cave.

cosmic
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11jono11

United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - Aug 03 2010 :  06:27:02 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Thank you for your reply, it sounds like you are well on your way . Part of me was hoping that the practice was less time, the lazy part, but I guess the more you do , the more you progress, the more time you want to put in. At the moment I half enjoy Kriya but also am sort of put off by practice, seeing it sometimes as a hindrance, it is made harder as I am told not to eat for a long time before practice, also I spend time in Kriya with thoughts coming such as, is this the correct practice? Is this the true Kriya? Things that I feel I cannot find out, short of meeting Lahiri Mahasaya / Babaji myself. Though in some way I believe it is about the Bakti involved. I am a student psych nurse, about to have 3 jobs to support myself/work half the year full-time in a hospital (unpaid) for my course and have dissertation and other assignments to do at the same time, so for this year time is a little sparse.

I guess this issue of not looking forward to practice should be resolved for any practice I get involved in, though I feel I was happier before Kriya, just meditating twice a day (20/30mins) and reading/watching a lot of Adya, Eckhart, Mooji.

If anyone else can reply to this and the above question/statements that would be great.

Om Shanti
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miguel

Spain
1197 Posts

Posted - Aug 03 2010 :  06:45:15 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi!

quote:
but has anyone awakened through AYP?


Oh,yes,im sure...

quote:
Know anyone that has


yes..and some of them are around here.They are a great helping hand/inspiration/source of light and love sometimes...

AYP is a really fast way to your true nature wich is pure love,peace and creativity.Our true nature.We are perfect creatures.Nothing to add,nothing to quit.

Respect my own self,i only can say that ayp is one of the factors that are changing all my life in all possible levels.
This system has much knowledge and perfect design inside.The expansive effects of ayp here and around (the place where i live and the people around) are really powerful and fast.

This is a true miracle.

3 years practicing yoga/meditation every day here.1 year and a half with ayp.AYP made all the difference here.Nothing to do with my old practices (good ones,but nothing to do in my opinion)

Effects in my life: great openings,innersilence-witness state (very useful,more creativity,more reflection and connection with my inner being before taking any step in life,healing,harmony,love!,peace,comunion with other human beings,expansion,self acceptance,more love to my self,strenght...

Those are the benefits growing and growing everyday,month...and year



Edited by - miguel on Aug 03 2010 06:47:40 AM
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Aug 03 2010 :  6:53:32 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Jono & All,

Thanks again for starting this thread Jono - it's an important and useful conversation to be having.

The key factor that determines how effective any system will be for you, is your own dedication --- how badly do you want enlightenment?

I have great respect for kriya yoga; I'm a kriyaban myself (though stopped kriya when I found AYP, a few years ago). It's an effective system. I personally see AYP as more effective for several reasons, but that's not to say that a dedicated kriyaban won't run circles around a lackluster AYPer; it really is the dedication/bhakti that matter.

AYP's open-architecture utilization of whatever proves truly effective, and Yogani's insight in extracting the most effective practices from yogic history, and combining them with a synergy where the whole is vastly greater than the sum of the parts (example: formal practice of pranayama and meditation, in each of our two daily sessions, in AYP -- as opposed to just pranayama, as with kriya) - has created a system that really is uniquely powerful.

Add in factors like self-pacing, powerful extended techniques (i.e. samyama, etc., as Cosmic mentioned), and self-inquiry ... which literally takes us directly to the open doorway of enlightenment, by accelerating the levels and ways in which our access to our own higher consciousness has become possible, via daily practices.

And then, combine all that with an open-minded, dedicated spiritual community (aka the AYP Forum) .... and I see, and think many of us see, AYP as something powerfully unique.

That's not to say we're better than other systems ............ the best system, for any of us, truly, is the one that allows us to realize our own true nature -- which always has more to do with our own willingness than with the forms of the system we utilize.

Any proven system can do this (facilitate enlightenment), although some systems (such as AYP) do this at least a bit more effectively than some others, but ultimately, in combination with how badly you want enlightenment, I might suggest asking yourself:

What is your intuition genuinely drawing you to?

I'd say go with that (whatever it is) .... mostly because, while I know a whole lot less than I used to ..... I do know that it's impossible to go about anything incorrectly; everything happens as it happens .... and all we really have to do is relax and enjoy the ride.



I hope this is useful, too.

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman


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karl

United Kingdom
1812 Posts

Posted - Aug 04 2010 :  4:16:39 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
I had a few false starts when I thought I might be getting enlightened.

At this point I cannot really say there is a journey from A to B instead just a gradual unfolding and expansion.

There is, at the start, a need to complete a journey, so keen to begin I ran at top speed, the harder I ran the slower the pace. Also, the blinkers were on, I did not appreciate the journey because of the focus on the idea of an end result.

Later I realised that it didn't matter, the less I cared the quicker things unfolded, the more they unfolded the less I cared and the more it became obvious how time and speed are worthless to that continued process.

It's the realisation that it's not a race you can win, because it isn't bounded by time, then it cannot matter which path is taken, what is practised, or for how long it is practised for.

Don't sweat on how long it takes, just put one foot in front of the other and enjoy it, at some point you will forget why you started or where you are going and just keep moving those feet by doing whatever practise feels right to you.

Awakened/enlightened are just words, they are as much an illusion as everything else, how can they be anything else when they are conjured up by the very mind that creates the illusion ?

I think it's similar to being in love. You can try all you like and it doesn't happen, then one day you stop trying and suddenly find yourself in love. You don't know how it happened, when it happened or how long it will last, it cannot be put in a box or described and you cannot tell someone how to get there faster just because you are in that state. Your experience counts for nothing and even the feeling of love isn't what you imagined it would be.

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Yonatan

Israel
849 Posts

Posted - Aug 04 2010 :  6:16:10 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
great karl, blessings.
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krcqimpro1

India
329 Posts

Posted - Aug 12 2010 :  12:04:57 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi 11Yono11,
I too started with Kriya and "shifted" to AYP after a few months. When comparing the two, I think they are essentially the same. Most of what Yogani has put into AYP appears to be parallel to Kriya. The sequencing may be different. For instance, Hong-saw is just like DM, and SBP is Kriya Pranayam; YMK is Jyoti Mudra and chin pump is "Thokar" in Kriya. These are core practices in Kriya as well as AYP.

As to which is faster, I think it will vary with the person. However, I am greatly encouraged by Shanti's view that it can happen in 3 to 4 years. This is what some of the Kriya Masters tell me too.

Krish

Yogani has tried out all these in various combinations and sequences and incorporated them( including others like S Bhastrika P, and importantly, Samyama) into AYP as he has found them most effective and efficient.
Yogani has the

Edited by - krcqimpro1 on Aug 13 2010 04:45:23 AM
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Tibetan_Ice

Canada
758 Posts

Posted - Aug 12 2010 :  11:11:43 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by krcqimpro1
...
For instance, Hong-saw is just like DM
...



Hi,
Just to be clear, the Hong-Sau meditation that is taught by the Self Realization Fellowship is in no way comparable to AYP deep meditation.

In the Hong-Sau meditation, the gaze is fixed at the brow and one watches the breath and mentally chants "Hong" on the in breath and "Sau" on the outbreath. The main purpose of the practice is to still the heart and shut down the senses. It is an exercise in learning how to switch the life current on and off in the body at will. (See lesson S1 -P21).

AYP's Deep Meditation does not fix the gaze anywhere, does not follow the breath and can be compared more to Transcendental Meditation than any other form of meditation. It is more like 'jumping into deep silence'.

Yogani has stated that one can go deeper in meditation when one lets go of following the breath. The SRF lessons state specifically that following the breath relaxes the heart to the point where it no longer needs oxygen and then shuts off the senses and quits beating.


quote:

and SBP is Kriya Pranayam


Here again, although I have never been formally initiated into the practice of Kriya by SRF, I have read Norman Paulsen's books (Disciple of Yogananda) and have read others' descriptions of the SRF techniques of spinal breathing. During Norman Paulsen's spinal breathing, the gaze is fixed at the brow, the root is pulsed three times then relaxed as you inhale and visualize each chakra melting into the sushumna upwards to the brow. Then, the root is pulsed three more times and the white divine light is brought down to the brow and back down the sushumna through the chakras to the root on the exhale.

In AYP Spinal breathing, you apply and hold the root lock and sambhavi and trace out a visualization of a white line of the sushumna which makes a 90 degree turn in the center of the head out to the brow. This is done on the inhale. On the exhale, you trace the white line back down. Also, later, you add the hissing sounds (high nasal and throat partially closed). There is no mention of chakras or bringing divine white light down from the crown into the chakras.

The techniques are very different.

I felt it is important to examine your blanket statements, as buddha would have surely done...

My next comment, aimed specifically at anyone who proclaims themselves to be fully awake, is a quote from B. Alan Wallace's "Mind in the Balance" :
quote:


The final nirvana of an arhat entails a nondual realization of the nonconceptual, primordial stillness of the absolute space of phenomenon. But it seems that such a being has not fully realized the perfect luminosity of omniscient, primordial consciousness or the creative potential of the energy of primordial consciousness. One who achieves the perfect spiritual awakening of a buddha, fully realizes all three aspects of the Great Perfection.



Something to think about and something to strive for...

:)
TI

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krcqimpro1

India
329 Posts

Posted - Aug 13 2010 :  05:23:21 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Tibetan ice,

I have not read Paulsen's book, but I have been formally initiated into Kriya a year ago. My understanding has been that "stillness" and "inner silence"(during which, I am certain,the senses are shut down) are the same. I may be wrong. According to Yogani, the important pre-requisites for "enlightenment are "inner silence" and "rising conductivity".And what I understand from YSS(SRF)here is that Kriya results in rising conductivity and Hong Sau produces "stillness". Since both methods are expected to result in Enlightenment, I conclude that they are parallel. One of course, may be faster or slower than the other.
Again, like with AYP, YSS starts off with Hong sau for a whole year before giving you Kriya, just like Yogani suggests we build up inner silence before starting with SBP.While Yogani does not recommend Sambhavi with DM, he says if it occurs automatically as a result of habit formation from the SBP practice, it is OK.
In the YSS Kriya too we are asked to trace the imagined hollow tube within the spinal cord between the root and third eye,with a hissing noise while out-breathing(Ujjayi), and breathing in through the "opened-up throat"(with Kechari) just like in SBP. YSS has not taught us any "pulsing" at root or 3rd eye, or bringing up or down any "divine light" from crown to chakras.
If SRF teaches what Paulsen has written in his book, then there is obviously some difference between SRF and YSS here in India.

And lastly, the Thokar and Jyoti Mudra also seem to be similar to Chin-pump and YMK, with the effect during Jyota Mudra and YMK being identical(seeing the golden ring, etc).

My understanding is from experiencing both methods myself and not from just reading a book. Of course, I must confess that while I started just over two years ago, I am no-where near "enlightenment", but am confident I will get there one day !

Krish

Edited by - krcqimpro1 on Aug 14 2010 08:58:47 AM
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Aug 13 2010 :  7:50:06 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by Tibetan_Ice

quote:

My next comment, aimed specifically at anyone who proclaims themselves to be fully awake, is a quote from B. Alan Wallace's "Mind in the Balance" :
[quote]

The final nirvana of an arhat entails a nondual realization of the nonconceptual, primordial stillness of the absolute space of phenomenon. But it seems that such a being has not fully realized the perfect luminosity of omniscient, primordial consciousness or the creative potential of the energy of primordial consciousness. One who achieves the perfect spiritual awakening of a buddha, fully realizes all three aspects of the Great Perfection.



Something to think about and something to strive for...

:)
TI




Hi TI,

Good post; very helpful comparison on AYP techniques vs. Kriya techniques; thanks.

Per the quote above - I just read Embracing Mind by B. Alan Wallace; I highly recommend anything by him.

And I agree with that quote, by the way.

Different traditions have different terms, and what B. Alan Wallace calls an Arhat is one who has realized the clarity, as he says, of absolute space of phenomenon, which still occurs within the space of consciousness.

In Shaivism, this would be someone who has realized the fullness of Shakti, but not of Shiva.

"Perfect luminosity of omniscient, primordial consciousness or the creative potential of the energy of primordial consciousness" refers to the union of Shivashakti - limitless subjectivity and limitless objectivity, living unbound as the wholeness now.

As far as "proclaiming" - yes, many, including myself have made the point that if there's one "claiming" or "proclaiming" enlightenment, especially with any sort of indication of a "separate me" who is enlightened, such statements are inherently untrue.

Yogani has also said in the most recent lesson, posted today, that statements about enlightenment are inherently distracting.

Some of us here well know the truth of this.



And so, there's no proclaiming here; that's certainly never been the intent, as you and I have discussed at length in other threads.

My mention of enlightenment, or liberation, the knowing of true nature, is, and has been for one purpose alone:

To attest that it's possible for all of us; it's real, it's available.

That's all.

There's truly "no one here" to be concerned about levels or labels or attainment; that's all relative, and potentially-orienting (and hopefully not disorienting! )

What I say along those lines is simply a counter-point to those who say "well, everything always keeps changing, and so nothing can ever be called 'enlightenment'."

At the levels of form, this is of course true; in our true nature, it is not true - because our true nature is changeless (beyond the "absolute space of phenomenon" mentioned above); change requires the changeless; what we actually are is the changeless --- ever-changing in experience. That's what experience is, and what it's for.

I didn't get the impression that anyone else was proclaiming anything, either, in this thread.

A direct questions was asked: "Anyone got the big E from AYP?"

This question has been answered in ways that seem very straightforward across the board, I would say.

Pretending there is no good answer to that question, or that no one can actually say whether they have the "Big E" or not, is simply the flip-side of one who runs around proclaiming "I'm enlightened and you're not."

The only unenlightenment is in the conceptual experience of the conceptual experiencer.

Enlightenment is simply actuality.

Enlightenment isn't an attainment; it's just an opening past all the conceptual obstructions to experiencing the actual as it actually is -- the very obstructions that effective practices help to remove from the memory of the body-mind concept, including the body-mind concept, itself (we may pragmatically "have" a body-mind, but are not that body-mind, alone).

And so, as Jed McKenna says:

"Enlightenment doesn't mean I have something you don't; it means you believe something I don't."

I don't proclaim that "I" have anything that anyone else doesn't. I do proclaim that our true nature is called "true nature" for a reason: it's what we each and all actually ever are, now.

I used to not recognize my true nature, and now I do.

That's all I mean when I say "I'm enlightened" or "I'm liberated"; it's all anyone who has ever accurately made those statements has meant, including people such as Ramana Maharshi (who said "there is only the Self") and Nisargadatta Maharaj (who said "I am the Supreme, the source; the ultimate.")

None of us who say these things are saying that we're anything that anyone else is not. We're simply saying that we know what we are, by being what we are, and that everyone else can, too.

No sense of anyone else's experience matters, or can be accurate, prior to knowing ourselves; that's why knowing ourselves by being what we are, which has nothing to do with any ideas, teachings or concepts, which can only be somewhat-vague indicators, is so solely important.

My statements regarding enlightenment have nothing to do with "where I think I am" (short answer: I don't; actually - there's no I to do so, and no thinking about it).

My statements regarding enlightenment have to do with letting people know that of all the vast amounts of spiritual traditions and teachings out there, that some of us have spent a few years with AYP, and have experienced the complete results available via any spiritual practices - the knowing of our true nature, by being our true nature.

We're not "our true nature" any more than anyone else reading these words --- we just know it.

And anyone reading can know it, too.

Because we all are equally This - the Wholeness.

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman


Edited by - Kirtanman on Aug 13 2010 9:54:49 PM
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11jono11

United Kingdom
181 Posts

Posted - Aug 18 2010 :  4:17:32 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
How does this all relate to the different stages of enlightenment eg Nirvikalpa Samadhi etc (what are they all again)?

Blessings

xxxxxxx
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Aug 18 2010 :  5:28:28 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Jono,

Nirvikalpa samadhi, and other forms of samadhi, are experiences which can help facilitate enlightenment, which is being our true nature (as opposed to unenlightenment, which is identifying with a falsely limited idea of ourselves).

I don't think the AYP Lessons ever reference nirvikalpa samadhi specifically; it's just one term among many, from one set of traditions.

Enlightenment isn't an experience; it's being who we actually are, after focus on everything that's not who we actually are has been released.



Which is exactly what AYP, and other effective spiritual systems, helps us to do.

I hope this helps.

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman


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Christi

United Kingdom
4380 Posts

Posted - Aug 18 2010 :  6:13:11 PM  Show Profile  Visit Christi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
Hi Jono,

quote:
How does this all relate to the different stages of enlightenment eg Nirvikalpa Samadhi etc (what are they all again)?

Blessings

xxxxxxx


Yogani has often stressed that enlightenment is an un-ending journey. Self-realization, which is what is being discussed here, is one of the stages on that journey, a milestone if you like. Some people get stuck at this stage- they bump into the milestone- whilst others continue on the journey. Nirvikalpa samadhi is samadhi without fluctuations (vikalpas). The higher stages of nirvikalpa samadhi can only be realized when there is no holding on to anything, including the idea of being self-realized (enlightened). This is why Yogani often says that proclamations of enlightenment are usually just a distraction for both the listener and the person making the proclamation.

See here:

http://www.aypsite.org/426.html

There is a great deal of divine unfoldment after self-realization. The journey never ends.

Christi
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Kirtanman

USA
1651 Posts

Posted - Aug 18 2010 :  9:36:44 PM  Show Profile  Visit Kirtanman's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by Christi



See here:

http://www.aypsite.org/426.html



Christi



Thanks for this, Christi.

The points you emphasized in your post, and the points I've emphasized in my posts in this thread, are both well-covered by Yogani in that lesson.

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman

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Christi

United Kingdom
4380 Posts

Posted - Aug 19 2010 :  03:58:16 AM  Show Profile  Visit Christi's Homepage  Reply with Quote  Get a Link to this Reply
quote:
Originally posted by Kirtanman

quote:
Originally posted by Christi



See here:

http://www.aypsite.org/426.html



Christi



Thanks for this, Christi.

The points you emphasized in your post, and the points I've emphasized in my posts in this thread, are both well-covered by Yogani in that lesson.

Wholeheartedly,

Kirtanman





Hi Kirtanman,

You're welcome.
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