Today: “Make up your mind and act.  Your actions will certainly have an impact, so do not send mixed signals.” – from the I Ching

Make up your mind and act.  Your actions will certainly have an impact, so do not send mixed signals.  Make a clear choice in order to liberate yourself from a self defeating conundrum.

Meditation: M061b-19901124 – Know the structure of the mind

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#57, line 3, #59

Wind follows upon wind, wandering the earth, penetrating gently but persistently:
The Superior Person expands his influence by reaffirming his decisions and carrying out his promises.

Small, persistent, focused effort brings success.
Seek advice from someone you respect.

Gentle persuasion is the key in this instance.
Though the words are soft, their speaker must be firm, calm and confident.
Gentle words are worthless if spoken with trepidation.
Wordless influence by example is also effective in this situation.
All persuasion should be almost unfelt, yet consistent and persistent.
Ask for feedback from someone you know to be an effective persuader.

Half-hearted attempts to penetrate, over and over again.
Humiliation.

Penetrating reflection must not be pushed too far, lest it cripple the power of decision. After a matter has been thoroughly pondered, it is essential to form a decision and to act. Repeated deliberation brings fresh doubts and scruples, and thereby humiliation, because one shows oneself unable to act.

Wind carries the Mists aloft:
Sage rulers dedicated their lives to serving a Higher Power and built temples that still endure.

The King approaches his temple.
Success if you stay on course.
You may cross to the far shore.

Walls meant to protect have instead separated and isolated.
Your defenses have kept you apart from those whom you most need to touch.
Whatever the reason for discord between you, it is time to lay down your arms.
Dispel the inflexible demands and fears of the Mind so that you may reunite in the Heart.
If you have begrudged, forgive.
If you have torn down, repair.
If you have injured, heal.
If you have judged, pardon.
If you have grasped, let go. .

Today: “Wherever one bows, there he will be blessed.” Yogi Bhajan

“Wherever one bows, there he will be blessed.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: NM0163 – Feel God Within You, The Kindness in You

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Today: “The house of cards is collapsing.  There is nothing to do but watch as leadership is discredited and its supporters scurry into retreat.” – from the I Ching

The house of cards is collapsing.  There is nothing to do but watch as leadership is discredited and its supporters scurry into retreat.

Meditation: LA019 780315 – Shuni Mudra Kriya

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

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Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#23, line 4, #33

The dark lines are about to mount upward and overthrow the last firm, light line by exerting a disintegrating influence on it. The inferior, dark forces overcome what is superior and strong, not by direct means, but by undermining it gradually and imperceptibly, so that it finally collapses.
The lines of the hexagram present the image of a house, the top line being the roof, and because the roof is being shattered the house collapses. The hexagram belongs to the ninth month (October- November). The yin power pushes up ever more powerfully and is about to supplant the yang power altogether.

SPLITTING APART. It does not further one
To go anywhere.

This pictures a time when inferior people are pushing forward and are about to crowd out the few remaining strong and superior men. Under these circumstances, which are due to the time, it is not favorable for the superior man to undertake anything.
The right behavior in such adverse times is to be deduced from the images and their attributes. The lower trigram stands for the earth, whose attributes are docility and devotion. The upper trigram stands for the mountain, whose attribute is stillness. This suggests that one should submit to the bad time and remain quiet. For it is a question not of man’s doing but of time conditions, which, according to the laws of heaven, show an alternation of increase and decrease, fullness and emptiness. It is impossible to counteract these conditions of the time. Hence it is not cowardice but wisdom to submit and avoid action.

Here the disaster affects not only the resting place but even the occupant. No warning or other comment is added. Misfortune has reached its peak: it can no longer be warded off.

The power of the dark is ascending. The light retreats to security, so that the dark cannot encroach upon it. This retreat is a matter not of man’s will but of natural law. Therefore in this case withdrawal is proper; it is the correct way to behave in order not to exhaust one’s forces.1
In the calendar this hexagram is linked with the sixth month (July-August), in which the forces of winter are already showing their influence.
RETREAT. Success.
In what is small, perseverance furthers.


Conditions are such that the hostile forces favored by the time are advancing. In this case retreat is the right course, and it is through retreat that success is achieved. But success consists in being able to carry out retreat correctly. Retreat is not to be confused with flight. Flight means saving oneself under any circumstances, whereas retreat is a sign of strength. We must be careful not to miss the right moment while we’re in full possession of power and position. Then we shall be able to interpret the signs of the time before it is too late and to prepare for provisional retreat instead of being drawn into a desperate life-and-death struggle. Thus we do not simply abandon the field to the opponent; we make it difficult for him to advance by showing perseverance in single acts of resistance. In this way we prepare, while retreating, for the counter- movement. Understanding the laws of a constructive retreat of this sort is not easy. The meaning that lies hidden in such a time is important. .

Today: “Feel good, do good, and be good.” Yogi Bhajan

“Feel good, do good, and be good. These are the only goods you can carry along with you; all the rest belongs to the planet Earth.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: The Positive Mind

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Today: “Do not blame yourself for things over which you have no control.  Just continue to serve.” – from the I Ching

Do not blame yourself for things over which you have no control.  Just continue to serve.  With your steady penetrating message, others’ perception will begin to change.  The situation will improve.

Meditation: LA046 – 780614 – Hari Shabad Meditation – Use the Wind to Produce Trance and Dissolve Negativity

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#25, line 5, #27

This is thoroughly a matter of the heart.
If everything you attempt, no matter how carefully planned, ends in disarray, then examine your motives.
They are the cause of your predicament.
It isn’t that your motives aren’t pure — even the best intentions will fail under these circumstances.
What stymies you in this situation is that you have a motive at all.
Free yourself of all expectations, release any tenuous grip you may have, and roll with it.
This is totally out of your control.
There are higher powers and more elements affecting the outcome of this situation than you can imagine.
Get out of their way.

An unexpected evil may come accidentally from without. If it does not originate in one’s own nature or have a foothold there, one should not resort to external means to eradicate it, but should quietly let nature take its course. Then improvement will come of itself.

You are a conduit in this instance, able to provide the sustenance needed by others.
Position yourself to nourish the truly needy and worthy.
Avoid situations where you might be coerced into supporting the parasites and vermin who deprive your true charges.
Your own nourishment is an issue here, too.
Remember Lao Tzu’s three Great Treasures:
Only the person possessed of Compassion, Modesty and Frugality can remain fit enough to stay free of desperation and keep control of the situation. .

Today: “If you want to refrain from something, refrain when you are young. Youth is the time of life when you can do anything.” Yogi Bhajan

“If you want to refrain from something, refrain when you are young. Youth is the time of life when you can do anything. It is during the time of old age that the bloody wolf declares, “Now I have become a vegetarian,” because after losing his teeth he can’t hunt anything.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: The Neutral Mind

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Today: “Develop discipline.  The shotgun approach to navigating life is no better than no approach.  ” – from the I Ching

Develop discipline.  The shotgun approach to navigating life is no better than no approach.  Use discipline to develop intuition.  Let that be your guide.

Meditation: LA936 980609 Four Stroke Breath to Build Intuition

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#60

Cultivating the proper disciplines and the proper degree of discipline are the concerns of this hexagram.
By limiting options, you may give more attention to priorities.
One who is all over the map is no less lost than one without a map.
Avoid asceticism, however.
Deprivation is not wise discipline.
The key here is regulation, not restriction. .

Today: “There is a reason we are here and that reason is to remain graceful and face all ungraceful environments with grace.” Yogi Bhajan

“There is a reason we are here and that reason is to remain graceful and face all ungraceful environments with grace. This is the purpose and it is a privilege.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: LA958 A00413 Grace My Grace Is Me! 20000413

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Recap: Healing and Meditation Workshop at Yoga West with Hari Nam Singh 2019-08-07 – Integrating Perception with Experience with Reality

Integrating Perception with Experience with Reality

In our healing, we rely on the totality of our undifferentiated (non-dualistic) experience to produce the aspect of mind that manifests our healing intentions.  We call that aspect the projective meditative mind, or simply, shuniya.  What brings that experience to us is the reality of our perception, pure and unaffected.  Pure perception is pure experience, is pure reality.  Unfettered, the experience of reality forms the integral perception, where our intentions interact with the reality to make our intentions reality.

Fundamentally, our perceptive field is integral to our experience.  Even so, we tend to separate the various phenomena that we witness and feel from the experience of witnessing and feeling them.  In our mental processes we hold various biases and prejudices about an experience,  for some purpose of describing the experience in a detached way.   It’s as if we objectify the experience and hold it in our memory or other historical catalog for the purpose of recalling it for some future application or use.

If we examine this tendency and the separation that it brings, it becomes apparent that a fabricated experiential object of this sort will inevitably interfere with the full appreciation of the future experience to which it is intended to apply.  So, it is useful to free the mind from encumbrances that serve to distract from pure experience in the moment.

The healing space, shuniya, includes the totality of experience.  When experienced as a whole, all of the information contained in that experience is allowed to express reality.

In our workshop we performed three kriyas, or meditative exercises, which have the effects of putting aside bias and judgement, telescoping our perception to infinity, and practicing reading the space from its phenomena.

Meditation: LA004 780109 Experience the Experience

Meditation: LA082-790123 Telescopic Infinity

Meditation: M061b-19901124 – Know the structure of the mind

Now, hear the lecture and instructions for the healing exercises from the Workshop.

 

See a recap of other workshops,
posts related to the meditative mind
and posts related to shuniya

Today: “It’s time to prepare for a big change.  Everything that has been tried has failed, so the status quo will be overturned.” – from the I Ching

It’s time to prepare for a big change.  Everything that has been tried has failed, so the status quo will be overturned.  It is inevitable.  Plant the seeds of revolution so that when the time is right, all resistance will crumble.

Meditation: LA088 790222 Egyptian Meditation

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

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Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#49, line 2, #5

Political revolutions are extremely grave matters. They should be undertaken only under stress of direst necessity, when there is no other way out. Not everyone is called to this task, but only the man who has the confidence of the people, and even he only when the time is ripe. He must then proceed in the right way, so that he gladdens the people and, by enlightening them, prevents excesses. Furthermore, he must be quite free of selfish aims and must really relieve the need of the people. Only then does he have nothing to regret.
Times change, and with them their demands. Thus the seasons change in the course of the year. In the world cycle also there are spring and autumn in the life of peoples and nations, and these call for social transformations.

Fire in the lake: the image of REVOLUTION.
Thus the superior man
Sets the calendar in order
And makes the seasons clear.

Fire below and the lake above combat and destroy each other. So too in the course of the year a combat takes place between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, eventuating in the revolution of the seasons. Man masters these changes in nature by noting their regularity and marking off the passage of time accordingly. In this way order and clarity appear in the apparently chaotic changes of the seasons, and man is able to adjust himself in advance to the demands of the different times.

When we have tried in every way to bring about reforms, but without success, revolution becomes necessary. But such a thoroughgoing upheaval must be carefully prepared. There must be available a man who has the requisite abilities and who possesses public confidence. To such a man we may well turn. This brings good fortune and is not a mistake. The first thing to be considered is our inner attitude toward the new condition that will inevitably come. We have to go out to meet it, as it were. Only in this way can it be prepared for.

WAITING is not mere empty hoping. It has the inner certainty of reaching the goal. Such certainty alone gives that light which leads to success. This leads to the perseverance that brings good fortune and bestows power to cross the great water. One is faced with a danger that has to be overcome. Weakness and impatience can do nothing. Only a strong man can stand up to his fate, for his inner security enables him to endure to the end. This strength shows itself in uncompromising truthfulness [with himself]. It is only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are, without any sort of self- deception or illusion, that a light will develop out of events, by which the path to success may be recognized. This recognition must be followed by resolute and persevering action. For only the man who goes to meet his fate resolutely is equipped to deal with it adequately. Then he will be able to cross the great water – that is to say, he will be capable of making the necessary decision and of surmounting the danger.

Clouds rise up to heaven:
The image of [calculated] waiting.
Thus the superior man eats and drinks,
Is joyous and of good cheer.

WHEN CLOUDS rise in the sky, it is a sign that it will rain. There is nothing to do but to wait till after the rain falls. It is the same in life when destiny is at work. We should not worry and seek to shape the future by interfering in things before the time is ripe. We should quietly fortify the body with food and drink and the mind with gladness and good cheer. Fate comes when it will, and thus we’re ready. .

Today: “There are ways to feel relaxed. One is to feel that you are a part of the universe and that the universe is a part of you.” Yogi Bhajan

“There are ways to feel relaxed. One is to feel that you are a part of the universe and that the universe is a part of you. You are just as beautiful as the universe. Without you, the universe is not beautiful, and you are not beautiful without the universe.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: NM0415 – 20010910 – Karma & Dharma

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Today: “Find the master you seek for guidance.  When you find the right path, practice self-reliance.” – from the I Ching

Find the master you seek for guidance.  When you find the right path, practice self-reliance. Do not idolize.

Meditation: LA950 A00214 20000214 Develop Self-Reliance

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#1, line 6, #23

This is a time of interchange between a mentor and pupil.
Whether you are the teacher or the student, it is a time of companionship along a mutual path.
This hexagram also emphasizes the eternal, cyclical nature of the mentor/student relationship — a mentor is merely a more seasoned pupil, further along on the journey.
A pupil holds within himself the seed of a future Master.

No one respects a lovestruck woman who throws herself at the object of her desire.  Do not idolize.

This is the sign of true companionship.
The principals in this situation exchange energy, ideas and feelings, constantly invigorating and encouraging each other to new heights of Spiritual achievement and Self-discovery.
This exchange is not for the glory of the Team, but for furthering the process of each individual’s ‘Te’, or pure potentiality.

.

Today: “If you don’t have self-reliance, what do you have?” Yogi Bhajan

“If you don’t have self-reliance, what do you have? You can cross the mountains, the oceans, the tragedies, the difficulties, the responsibilities, with only one thing, self-reliance. Fear not, my dear ones; the antidote for fear is self-reliance.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Meditation: LA950 A00214 20000214 Develop Self-Reliance

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What else Yogi Bhajan said

Today: “In a time of enormous success when anything is possible, persevere but don’t overreach.” – from the I Ching

In a time of enormous success when anything is possible, persevere but don’t overreach.  If you become insufferable, you will lose support.

Meditation: NM0413 – Intuition and the Strength of Excellence

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#1, line 6, #23

The time for action has come.
You now have the focus and the stamina necessary for accomplishing great tasks.
The path before you is being cleared and reward lies ahead
.

Even a dragon may fly too high.

In this situation, oppressors are violently seizing power.
Pay special heed when you receive this hexagram, because the oracle is often warning you of a situation of which you are totally unaware.
You are about to be blindsided.

.

Today: “Patience pays. Let no temptation shake you, no vibration move you, and no action force you out of yourself and righteousness.” Yogi Bhajan

“Patience pays. Let no temptation shake you, no vibration move you, and no action force you out of yourself and righteousness. An unshakable human being is the highest living phenomenon of God.” Yogi Bhajan

Sat Nam!
Ram Anand

Lecture and Meditation: Patience Pays – LA-19831020

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Today: “It is important to unite with others and share our common goals.  It is important to choose carefully with whom we unite.” – from the I Ching

It is important to unite with others and share our common goals.  It is important to choose carefully with whom we unite.  Do not seek unworthy allies.  Go to the common source of consciousness that unites us all.  Then there will be no limits to what we can accomplish together.

Meditation: NM249 971230 theorem of the Kundalini Yoga; control your micro & macro consciousness

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Today: I Ching – Previous Readings

Personal I Ching readings

Read the text from Richard Wilhelm's and subsequent translations of the I Ching

#47, line 6, #10

This is a time of connection with another or others — not just an alliance, but a melding of parts into a new whole.

WHAT IS required is that we unite with others, in order that all may complement and aid one another through holding together. But such holding together calls for a central figure around whom other persons may unite. To become a centre of influence holding people together is a grave matter and fraught with great responsibility. It requires greatness of spirit, consistency, and strength. Therefore let him who wishes to gather others about him ask himself whether he is equal to the undertaking, for anyone attempting the task without a real calling for it only makes confusion worse than if no union at all had taken place.
But when there is a real rallying point, those who at first are hesitant or uncertain gradually come in of their own accord. Late-comers must suffer the consequences, for in holding together the question of the right time is also important. Relationships are formed and firmly established according to definite inner laws. Common experiences strengthen these ties, and he who comes too late to share in these basic experiences must suffer for it if, as a straggler, he finds the door locked.
If a man has recognized the necessity for union and does not feel strong enough to function as the centre, it is his duty to become a member of some other organic fellowship.

We are often among people who do not belong to our own sphere. In that case we must beware of being drawn into false intimacy through force of habit. Needless to say, this would have evil consequences. Maintaining sociability without intimacy is the only right attitude toward such people, because otherwise we should not be free to enter into relationship with people of our own kind later on.

There is a Source common to us all.
Jung named it the Collective Unconscious.
Others hail it as God within.
Inside each of us are dreamlike symbols and archetypes, emotions and instincts that we share with every other human being.
When we feel a lonely separateness from others, it is not because this Well within has dried up, but because we have lost the means to reach its waters.
You need to reclaim the tools necessary to penetrate to the depths of your fellows.
Then the bonds you build will be as timeless and inexhaustible as the Well that nourishes them..